Gold Rush Mine Rescue with Fre Episode 8 Engsub

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#video #Gold Rush Mine Rescue with Fre Episode 8 Engsub #drama2026 #movie2026 #hotmovie

Transcript

00:00:02I drank way too much I woke up in the morning what'd you buy it was a 40 acre claim

00:00:07on this

00:00:09episode of mine rescue we're trying to do two plants at the same time it's gonna be crazy the

00:00:17fate of two failing operations on one Alaskan mega claim we all work together look out for each

00:00:24other will rise and fall together depends on the first ever high stakes double rescue come on big

00:00:32boy let's go my mind fire fire is blowing straight to our camp this really may not happen for any

00:00:42of

00:00:42these guys next year there's still more yeah

00:00:57we're probably 30 40 miles away from the Arctic Circle gold was discovered in this area in 1893

00:01:03over a million ounces of gold come out of this ground that's a lot of stinking gold yeah it is

00:01:12we're here to help across two different mine sites the leaseholders the pot fins they couldn't lose at

00:01:17all last year and then on top of that Fred Dickinson well he's struggling not being able to run as

00:01:23much

00:01:23as he wants and he has royalty he has to pay that's as ambitious as we've ever been winding their

00:01:31way

00:01:31through the central Alaskan tundra Juan and Dave head to their first ever double rescue on 2,000 acres in

00:01:39Boulder Creek with one minor one knows well so I met Fred Dickinson almost six years ago it was one

00:01:48of

00:01:48the first rescues Freddie and I ever did no way hey gentlemen hey guys good to see you I'm Brian

00:01:59hey

00:02:00good to see you man nice to meet you guys Fred good to see you buddy yes sir it has

00:02:05been a minute

00:02:06everything's grown the boys have grown the equipment's grown plants grown I see that the bills have grown oh

00:02:12yeah and you were in Arizona and now you're in Alaska yes sir wow after Freddy and Juan

00:02:19visited us we were in a really good place hey guys welcome six years ago in their first televised

00:02:27rescue Freddy and Juan found the Dickinson family's dreams of gold dying in the desert right now my hobby

00:02:35has to feed my family let's get him some more gold right on let's do it man a little awestruck

00:02:41by what

00:02:41these guys are able to do 1.13 that's huge I can't tell you how much we appreciate you guys

00:02:49coming out

00:02:50Freddy and Juan took me from a hobby minor to a professional minor the first couple of years we

00:02:56were making money our decision to move from Arizona to Alaska was about expanding our operation about me

00:03:05and the boys being able to do something that would support all of us I'm not gonna lie we're struggling

00:03:11the ground in Alaska is nothing like the ground in Arizona getting the material to the wash plant

00:03:17getting the material run has become a bit of a logistical nightmare I'm out of my depth I'm not here

00:03:24because this is fun and games for me I enjoy mining but I'm out here to build something for my

00:03:30family

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 a hundred so how are you doing this year then 22 ounces

00:03:49so far halfway

00:03:50through the season the people we lease from the Podvins they get a cut which is always painful but

00:03:55they support us and since I've been here every time we break down they're over helping us pulling

00:04:01us out okay well you guys got some gold to show us we don't have any of the gold it's

00:04:06sold to the

00:04:06refinery I went home last year very in debt and at this year we are we're struggling to break even

00:04:14much less pay off last year's debt so I'm about a hundred and eighty five thousand dollars upside

00:04:20down I'm gonna go bankrupt here and what we want to do is kind of get out there and do

00:04:28a test run

00:04:28with you guys you kind of know the what we do and how we do things you know Dave and

00:04:32I we're gonna kind

00:04:32of sit back and watch you guys and really see what we can do to help you guys out well

00:04:36you guys ready

00:04:37to run some dirt sure yeah show us that wash plant let's get it fired up let's go going from

00:04:44their humble little plant Fred's grown he's progressed scaled up but he's got a long ways

00:04:49to go to make it work out here firing it up we're gonna do a four-hour run I love

00:05:05dirt moving it makes

00:05:07it all the more fun when there's gold involved Fred's son Josh loads pay into an eight-foot hopper

00:05:15that washes down into a 12-foot shaker deck material is screened through a square hold punch plate and

00:05:24fed down into the sluice runs below where the gold should collect brother Brian in the D9 clears

00:05:32tailings to prevent them backing up a lot of that material is getting stuck on that screen that punch

00:05:38plate the bottleneck there yeah a hundred percent but I think it's about a bucket a minute roughly might

00:05:44be a little less one of the issues they've got the way the materials coming down it's really going

00:05:53down one sluice box about this wide they're really utilizing about thirty to forty percent of their

00:06:00sluice box look at the size of that we must have somewhere else in the screen where this is coming

00:06:09through yeah that's massive huh there's no reason that should be in there at all how's the hopper

00:06:18doing buddy is it packed up or are you doing okay yeah it's fine all right 10-4 yeah give

00:06:24her just a

00:06:24little bit more I've ran a lot of gold mines and this one's just a little disorganized how they get

00:06:36their payout you 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

00:06:50away from them the podman's they're my landlords right now our arrangement is I get the corners and

00:06:58crevices that his larger operation bypasses because they move in straight lines and the river

00:07:04doesn't the truth is is our destinies are tied together will rise and fall together landlord the

00:07:12podvins own the rights to over 2,000 acres Darrell is the guy everybody goes to for help he just

00:07:18goes

00:07:19yeah I'm in the middle of sluicing but that's okay I'll come help you they've been instrumental in kind

00:07:24of helping us mine this creek so I know this year they're having to run two years worth just to

00:07:30try

00:07:31to make enough to get by and you know start building a life for themselves but after the podvins failed

00:07:37to

00:07:37run last season Fred is under pressure to deliver them a healthy royalty to stay in business we've

00:07:44still got a lot to figure out with this wash plan we are struggling to get enough volume on this

00:07:49ground

00:07:50to be able to go home with money damn it this is not good Brian's D9 prevents the wash plant

00:08:15from

00:08:15becoming overwhelmed by tailings it started leaking coolant everywhere so it might have had a cracked

00:08:22head gasket so it's time to take the head off and check everything out we're at the end of the

00:08:31four

00:08:32hour run so why don't we shut them down and see what we got in the box all right buddy

00:08:36that's your

00:08:37last bucket let's shut her down you can see on the flow on shutdown how much water is on that

00:08:48side how

00:08:48much material yeah just watching it right now on shutdown you can see what it's doing oh yeah well

00:08:54gentlemen why don't you guys clean it all up and let's let's do a gold way okay we'll meet back

00:08:59up with

00:08:59you guys in the morning and see what we got sounds great you good with that yes sir all right

00:09:03I'm hoping

00:09:05that these guys can work some magic we need to figure out how to run more dirt or to run

00:09:11longer

00:09:14let's go take a look at the podvin plant yep let's go located half a mile away the podvin operation

00:09:24is

00:09:24midway through a hundred hour run hey how you doing come on there good to meet you hi I'm Dave

00:09:32how you doing good Darryl Darryl what a beautiful plant thank you it's awesome that you guys are here

00:09:40and then we can check this thing out and see if you can help them you built this whole thing

00:09:44yeah

00:09:44wow the two boys and I Darryl runs the operation with his partner Liva and two grown sons Matthew

00:09:53and Eric it is designed where we can flip from there flip the sluice box change directions on the side

00:09:59of

00:10:00the creek a lot of thought in this absolutely we had a diesel repair shop in North Dakota in the

00:10:06oil

00:10:06field and we also had a gravel crushing business on the side so we trust gravel throughout the summers and

00:10:13wrenched year-round and oil kind of took a dive and we were trying to figure out what we were

00:10:18gonna

00:10:20do and we were drinking at the bar one day I drank way too much and went to bed woke

00:10:25up in the morning

00:10:26Liva was like what'd you what'd you spend on PayPal for 800 bucks no what do you mean she says

00:10:33well you

00:10:34bought something in Alaska for 800 bucks on PayPal what'd you buy I said well let's check it out sure

00:10:40enough it was a 40 acre claim and I was like oh dad called us the next morning and said

00:10:47hey you want

00:10:47to go prospect a gold claim in Alaska and I thought he was out of his mind and we came

00:10:51up here and spent

00:10:52the month up here and found like seven tiny little pieces of gold and been up here ever since 10

00:10:59years

00:10:59later here we are I'm very proud of that wash plant but the fact that we spent our retirement and

00:11:05then

00:11:05some on building it nobody made any money last year you know including the boys it was a killer the

00:11:13hell

00:11:13of a design it's like almost a dredge there's a land red it is the dredge on wheels I like

00:11:19it on this rolling

00:11:21land dredge known as a progressive plant pay is fed into an eight-foot hopper and washed into a 40

00:11:30-foot

00:11:30long trommel a spray bar washes the pay down into the 16 by 10 foot wide sluice box but after

00:11:39taking

00:11:39a full season off sluicing to build it they now can't afford to shut it down so Dave and Juan

00:11:46must assess

00:11:47the wash plant without waiting for a gold way once that wash plant's running it's going to stay

00:11:52running we ain't going to shut down how many yards an hour are you running out of it about a

00:11:58hundred

00:11:59hundred and twenty yards an hour what were you wanting to do out of it at 200 yeah we have

00:12:06to

00:12:06run more material I spent way too much money building that washing life to let it run a hundred yards

00:12:10an

00:12:10dollar it has to be increased it was expensive girl to build okay putting that kind of money out not

00:12:20running all year long last year Daryl's running on empty that's a tough thing to do when you have an

00:12:25operation like this and not only that on the Dickinson's plant there's a couple issues that I'm really

00:12:29worried about this is gonna be a tricky rescue trying to do two plants at the same time it's gonna

00:12:35be a

00:12:35tough few days this is an adventure let's go see coming up I'm very frustrated I mean they did walk

00:12:46and they just didn't see that sluice box is absolutely horrible be careful we don't have a

00:12:51hell of a lot of time honestly really don't give two about the sluice box

00:13:09you can feel it build in here in Boulder Creek Alaska Juan and Dave assessed the largest of the

00:13:17two operations in their double rescue there's definitely a lot more flow on this side yeah

00:13:23you can feel it the distribution is an issue feel the ripple and they're pretty lean yeah it is a

00:13:30little

00:13:30lean so you can tell on that side it's gonna be super lean yeah no we when you can actually

00:13:34see

00:13:34the gravels coming down it doesn't have a chance to settle out in the map we lose his gold out

00:13:40of

00:13:40that box he has an issue up top as well on the hopper I mean that bucket is just about

00:13:47as big as

00:13:48the hopper it is it is he's having to periodically go in there and push it so he's got some

00:13:53hard angles

00:13:54in there that are and beating the rocks and then they get stacked up that's definitely a bottleneck

00:14:00they designed it to do 200 yards an hour right now he's just barely over 100 what are you typically

00:14:07run before you clean up 100 100 hours I guess what we need to do is figure out what we

00:14:14can do because

00:14:15my concern is if we tackle the big problem of the hopper now we're going to create that problem

00:14:19further downstream in the sluice box right so it's going to be a multiple part fix the one thing

00:14:24that does kind of make me feel a little bit better about Travis and Alex here yeah so you know

00:14:29it'll

00:14:29be probably a balancing act really I think we're gonna have to divide and conquer as one puzzles

00:14:36through the potential fixes Dave gets to grips with the Podvins pay dirt I'm just checking see if

00:14:43there's much gold down here I'm not finding much there was two tiny little pieces of gold

00:14:57that's pretty lean ground I need a little bit more information you guys get ready to move to keep the

00:15:13plant loaded with pay in its 100 hour run the plant moves 30 feet further into the cut every two

00:15:20hours

00:15:22it's kind of a unique design that's a progressive plant it basically moves to the material instead

00:15:29of moving the material to it it's as cheap as it gets to be able to process the ground here

00:15:33we go even

00:15:35though the plant's probably one of the nicer plants I've seen that sluice box is a real issue distribution's

00:15:40an issue the hopper's an issue it's gonna be tough you know because we're gonna have to spread our

00:15:44resources over two mine sites my issue is we don't have a hell of a lot of time this might

00:15:51not work

00:15:58this is it good to see Fred good to see you guys well you guys got some gold to show

00:16:07us from that

00:16:07to clean up we do on the Dickinson mine Fred has the results from yesterday's four-hour test run it's

00:16:15not terrible four hours yeah the little chunkers in there we don't very very clean gold you've got

00:16:21some chunky stuff with quartz and then there's a piece that's just flattened nice little pickers you

00:16:27got several different sources here yeah we think so I think there's at least three but yeah that's my

00:16:32best guess all right well let's pour it out let's see what we got huh to stay on track for

00:16:38their 200

00:16:38ounce season target this four-hour test needs to give Fred and his boys 1.4 ounces 0.94 nearly

00:16:49an ounce

00:16:50just shy of an ounce three thousand bucks roughly yeah for four hours run yeah it's a third short of

00:16:58their goal you know it's been getting us by but getting by is not good enough no no not paying

00:17:05off

00:17:05the debts no we're not paying off the debts that's the challenge you know if this number doesn't come

00:17:09up this may be the end of the line here yeah I mean it could be okay I mean we're

00:17:13we're going to

00:17:14fight it with everything we've got though yeah no fair enough you know I guess uh you know really

00:17:18when it comes down to it you know we don't have a whole lot of time left in the season

00:17:21I think

00:17:22we're lacking in a couple different things but really it's going to boil down to what Dave and I can

00:17:25do all the time we have here over two mine sites yeah absolutely and any any help makes a big

00:17:31difference we'll go back and kind of come up with a game plan see what we can do all right

00:17:35good with

00:17:36that go figure it out all right here you go here's your gold thank you sir see you guys in

00:17:40a bit

00:17:44that gold way is what we've been getting but it's it's not enough if we keep going the pace we're

00:17:48at

00:17:49we're not even going to reach half our coal we've got to change something there's quite a bit going

00:17:55on there Dave two big operations on the brink one and Dave break down their task list Brad has a

00:18:03few

00:18:03issues his throughput through the plant is not great I agree we can get his pay up quicker get it

00:18:10piled up and then I see several things that could be fixed right now we're doing about 45 yards an

00:18:15hour

00:18:15you know and the reality is we got to come up you know 65 yards an hour is really where

00:18:20he needs to

00:18:20be yeah that screen deck that he has there he's got square holes in it they're a corner to corner

00:18:26almost inch and a half right now we're allowing material this big to go through that screen it's

00:18:31huge which is taking up a lot of room in that sluice box so your suggestion is round correct yeah

00:18:36we'll cut a whole new plate but do all round holes and make sure they're one inch this eccentric's

00:18:42pretty easy mm-hmm so that thing is spinning right mm-hmm so you add more weight it's gonna make

00:18:48the

00:18:48throw a bigger stroke absolutely what it's gonna do is give us a little more violent of a shake

00:18:53yeah but if we get more material through the plant basically we're gonna be running more material on

00:18:58that side of the sluice so we're gonna have to even that feed out and make it where it distributes

00:19:03equally across the two sluice boxes you good with that I'm good with that what do you think about the

00:19:08the Podvins you know the problem with this we're having to do Fred's and the Podvins at the same

00:19:15time so I know they don't want to shut the plant down yeah that's gonna be interesting the biggest

00:19:21issue I saw with the Podvins plant and you saw it too was that sluice box yeah we got that

00:19:27distribution

00:19:27box coming off the bottom pan it comes in so that materials coming down and again hitting this side of

00:19:32the box yep so what I would like to see here is try to get that material equally distributed across

00:19:39the whole box instead of just favoring that one side yeah you have four runs four runs we can get

00:19:45their production up fixing their feeder it was a little bit cumbersome I mean it it was clogging up a

00:19:51little bit clogging up going out the sides yeah that feeder right now it comes in and then actually

00:19:56has a hard angle where that materials coming in and it's getting stopped up and it's not allowing it

00:20:00to go into the trommel maybe cut some angles some plates to be able to divert that material so it's

00:20:04not so drastic so let's go chat with them see what they say okay all right it's good all right

00:20:16well we we kind of had a chance to talk about what we wanted to do with you guys okay

00:20:20one of

00:20:21the issues Dave and I saw is your punch plate yeah on the top you know having those square holes

00:20:26it's a

00:20:26hard edge right so those rocks they get stuck so we'll cut a whole new one put it on there

00:20:30and it's going to be round holes and make sure they're tapered the right way okay Dave came up

00:20:34with the idea we're gonna add a little more weight to your eccentric as well yeah I think if we

00:20:38put

00:20:38some more weight you'll get a more violent shake so it should kick those rocks up and you should get

00:20:44more through okay we already have an issue with the distribution box right now it's kind of favoring

00:20:49that one side so we want to eliminate that oh wow so you will have a true distribution that'll

00:20:55actually feed 50 50 to the box okay so you know with those three things that we're talking about

00:21:01the punch plate eccentric weight and the distribution we're probably looking about thirty five hundred

00:21:07dollars material you know it's a little bit of a big nut to crack and I know right now things

00:21:11are

00:21:12kind of tight so what Dave and I kind of came up with is we're willing to give you guys

00:21:15our labor for

00:21:16free I appreciate that that's amazing I wouldn't even hesitate at that so I appreciate that let's do it if

00:21:21you guys are ready to do it if you guys can help us be able to get some of this

00:21:24work done that way

00:21:25we can get all of it done in the time more than happy to absolutely done okay let's do it

00:21:29deal thanks

00:21:31guys those are super critical fixes for us if we can't get that yardage up then we're not gonna

00:21:39make enough gold to cover the season well hello Darryl how's it going guys in Boulder Creek Alaska

00:22:00morning the livelihoods of two operations are at stake and Juan and Dave put an unprecedented second

00:22:08rescue deal on the table you guys are tight crew very well organized we're impressed so as far as

00:22:15efficiency you guys are pretty damn efficient yeah during the test run we did see a few things you

00:22:20know you want to be able to get up to that 200 yard an hour right now you're about what

00:22:23120 yeah at

00:22:24top the feed on the hopper is something that we need to address right now the angle that you have

00:22:29is

00:22:29really abrupt what we're gonna do is we're gonna actually make it a little longer so that way as the

00:22:33material hits it's able to push in instead of getting stuck I think that's awesome another thing

00:22:37that Dave and I saw is that you're losing gold that sluice box is a real issue so I was

00:22:43your box

00:22:43that you have now go up there and put dividing walls build a distribution box to be able to

00:22:47distribute that material evenly across the four boxes instead of I can tell Eric don't like it

00:22:53not convinced I don't want to split it I do not want to split that box I mean we clean

00:22:58up top eight

00:22:58feet two guys you can be done in an hour and that thing's back running honestly you know we I

00:23:04worked

00:23:04under Freddie for the last 11 years and Freddie's made his career on fine gold you know and hundreds

00:23:10you know thousands of thousands of ounces I don't know what the number the real number is the percentage

00:23:14of what you're losing but I would guesstimate you know probably 10 to 15 percent my concern is even if

00:23:21we go in there and we up your production yeah sure we're gonna catch a little bit more gold but

00:23:25then also we're actually running the risk of losing more gold honestly really don't give

00:23:32two about the sluice box I really want the production up I spend way too much money building

00:23:39that wash plant to let it run 100 yards an hour the fine gold who cares I was the same

00:23:44production

00:23:44and keep that going and I'd forget the sluice box is your bank yeah yeah that's where you're making

00:23:52your money and I've had to learn that as we run more material through that box running the way it

00:23:57is I get it you're gonna see an increase in gold yeah but there's gonna be a massive increase in

00:24:01lost

00:24:01gold as well it's 16 feet long you know it it's gonna catch it I really think that sluice box

00:24:07could stay

00:24:10agree to disagree but uh I'm good with that you know ultimately it's your guys's plant I want you

00:24:16guys you guys to be happy with what we're gonna do and if that's what you guys want you know

00:24:19we'll

00:24:20absolutely do the distribution and work on that hopper I like it that's awesome we're gonna up the

00:24:25production which you're all about I like it you know that being said between the hopper fix and working

00:24:31on the distribution it's probably gonna be about 3,500 bucks in material and as far as labor we're

00:24:37thinking about an ounce piece you guys are good with it you know that's that's what we can offer

00:24:45do it make it happen aren't they don't up the production then it cuts in half but but but the

00:24:49deal is but the deal is if we do up the production we get the extra gold there you go

00:24:53I don't think

00:24:55that's gonna happen sounds great bring it in oh gosh all right when we decided to build that

00:25:04wash plant thought well we can build this thing in two months no problem we'll build it in two

00:25:10months we'll still have a half a season we'll be all fine it'll pay for itself in a heartbeat yeah

00:25:15no

00:25:15it took it took five months to the day there's five or six of us welding and working on that

00:25:20thing

00:25:22constantly every inch of weld on that thing we welded it it's not a little fifty thousand dollar wash

00:25:29plant and everything on that thing is hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of parts you know

00:25:34and now we're to the point where everything's due past due we need to have a successful season here to

00:25:41make this work because we can't keep going we all really are feeling pressure dad definitely feels the

00:25:46pressure we got to find the gold this year the intention was to get 200 yards an hour out of

00:25:53it got

00:25:54better than a half a million bucks invested in this wash plant one whole entire summer not losing there

00:26:00was a lot of pressure here that's our baby I mean we spent a lot of money a lot of

00:26:07downtime and lost

00:26:08money not only is it cash out of pocket to build it but we didn't mind either so you might

00:26:13have lost

00:26:13two million dollars last year and spent the half a million it's tough to let go and let someone else

00:26:19do

00:26:20this that or the other with it but at the same time number guys know what they're doing I trust

00:26:24they're gonna do good work on it set up in the podvin's yard one begins the first of the fixes

00:26:36for

00:26:37the Dickinson's operation it's gonna be difficult because Fred's plant and the podvin's plant they're

00:26:43two of the bigger plants that we've done on a rescue right now we're cutting out the punch plate

00:26:48there's gonna go on red deck larger material slips through the Dickinson's shaker deck and clogs the

00:26:58sluice Juan and Dave will replace the square hold punch plate and add a new one with custom one inch

00:27:05round holes to keep material flowing through the plant they will install a jet into the back of the

00:27:14hopper and add weights to the eccentric shaker system finally to ensure the plant catches gold

00:27:23efficiently one will build a distribution shoot to create an even flow of material into the sluice box

00:27:32we're gonna be about 2,000 holes in this plate so there's gonna be substantial cut times once it's

00:27:38done I'm gonna get it out clean it up get it down there and install it over at the Dickinson's

00:27:48wash plant Travis hasn't cut loose so it's ready to come out assisted by Travis Fred and Josh make room

00:27:56for Juan's new punch plate we believed somebody who said oh square holes are better they're not lift up

00:28:06on it a little bit and then drag it out of there

00:28:26I don't want to break anything Josh is my oldest and he's a hell of an operator he's a wizard

00:28:34in that excavator

00:28:35he likes to say he's as good as me but I think the jury's still out

00:28:46it's stuck it's not completely off yeah just pop it off just try not hit the spray bars

00:28:53all right

00:29:16yeah thank God that punch plate's gone

00:29:19that thing good riddance this was a failed experiment we're glad to move on

00:29:39next process of this is getting the heads down onto the studs in central Alaska at the Dickinson mine

00:29:48this is Daryl's crane this is his service truck I've used it countless times this season budding

00:29:56mechanic Brian tries to bring the broken D9 back online with equipment loaned from the

00:30:03pudvin operation we all work together look out for each other the miners myself Fred and his guys

00:30:09other people on the creek everyone wants to look out for everyone we're like a small community so

00:30:15this is the top okay looks good you got the other half though yeah I got those awesome all right

00:30:23bud

00:30:23all right cool once you're done with the truck bring it back up all right I will thank you get

00:30:28some yeah

00:30:30I'll help Fred and his boys out he was in Arizona in the sand in the desert and whatnot so

00:30:36we give him a

00:30:37little guidance here and there Brian is very mechanical these torn in engines rebuilt engines

00:30:43rebuilt transmissions this is his first trip into a large diesel I was about 14 years old when my dad

00:30:53brought home a car for me and him to work on blown up engine doing this with the boys with

00:31:01my family

00:31:01that's beautiful it's fair to say they've grown up as miners it's just fun to take things apart and

00:31:08put them all back together in the same order it's like a very greasy big Lego me and my dad

00:31:14work very

00:31:15well together we don't really have to say much to understand each other right now there is a little bit

00:31:21of a worry that we financially might not be able to do this next year I worry about my dad

00:31:27and all

00:31:28the pressure that's on him because he's working his ass off and he's trying to make this all work and

00:31:33he's struggling a little bit get her running yeah I want to see you blowing smoke tonight no

00:31:43all right I gotta get these two heads on start torquing it all down and put it all back together

00:31:54again

00:32:04a lot of times when you're in an area like this and you want to figure out where the gold

00:32:09is and

00:32:09where it came from looking at the archives is helpful to dig deeper into the lean ground he

00:32:16discovered on the potman's claim Dave takes a field trip to the circle district museum I'm looking

00:32:23to gain some clues to how much gold is in Boulder Creek central area maps take a look at these

00:32:31oh boy

00:32:32these are old old maps wow oh here we are here's central house Miller house and here's Boulder Creek very

00:32:51very interesting the X means gold placer

00:32:56so this is from geologic reconnaissance math surveyed in 1903 1904 1905 1906 and here on Boulder Creek

00:33:09there's three red X's that's interesting he's got the X's way at the headwaters of Boulder Creek

00:33:16and we're mining way down at the bottom of the stream which is kind of encouraging

00:33:23the old maps may point to better gold upstream on Boulder Creek Dave calls a local contact to

00:33:31investigate yeah hi is this Cody hey Cody this is David turn

00:33:44it's my least favorite place I try and stay out of that place

00:33:49back at the podvin claim one takes a short break from the cut table to check out the gold room

00:33:55our

00:33:55cleanup process is not efficient that's your table there huh that's our little table so basically

00:34:01what are you doing you get your concentrates out of the sluice box are you running them through like

00:34:06a long time long time it just reduces the fines down then everything gets thrown all over the table

00:34:11yeah yeah we probably average four days yeah four days that you're not doing something else right

00:34:15right nothing quick about it and it looks like Leva really loves it too

00:34:23it's not bad but it's very time-consuming

00:34:28I take care of all the books and make sure all the finances are in line I'm very calculated I

00:34:34have

00:34:35spreadsheets for almost every aspect of this operation the books are not going to balance if

00:34:42we can't get that lamp up to 200 yards an hour last year we spent every penny of our retirement

00:34:49it's

00:34:51very scary to have this large of an investment gold is not guaranteed so there's always the risk factor

00:34:57there's an old joke if you want to make a million gold mining you have to start with two million

00:35:04sometimes it feels like that's what we're doing we're constantly chasing that million dollars

00:35:12so that's definitely a bottleneck so well let me think about it and uh see what we can't do here

00:35:17awesome thank you much thank you thank you sir

00:35:28hello what's going on Juan this turned out to be a little more work than what I anticipated

00:35:33okay one of the big issues that we have right is the cleanup process right now it takes them four

00:35:38days

00:35:39to do a cleanup oh yeah it's pretty bad okay well I wanted to see if you had a table

00:35:44a used table or

00:35:45something that we could get in here to be able to help them out well I'm just gonna have to

00:35:49make

00:35:49some calls and see what's going on Juan I know you're gonna have to have it quick so yeah you

00:35:54know we're not looking for a freebie but that they have some money to throw at it if I can

00:35:58get a hold

00:35:59of one Juan I'll make you a heck of a deal on it okay yeah if you can make that

00:36:02work that'll help us

00:36:03out tremendously you just let me know as soon as you know and then I'll send somebody that way if

00:36:06we

00:36:06can you got it okay sounds good well I'm gonna get back to doing dirt work here all right buddy

00:36:11thanks Fred talk to you soon bye for now bye efficiency is key and right now they're taking

00:36:17four days to do a cleanup and that's not acceptable at all you know with a with a good table

00:36:21in here

00:36:21it should take that from four days to let's call it four hours

00:36:30hey Juan coming over to the top of you Dave next on the long list of fixes for Dave and

00:36:39Juan

00:36:39is to install the Dickinson's newly cut punch plate

00:36:47a punch plate is basically a wear item you don't want to fully weld it that way you can go

00:36:52in there

00:36:52and cut those walls out replace the top deck I like it that'll work I like it too that'll work

00:36:57good Dave let's try it here yeah four more build days left to complete an epic double rescue it's an

00:37:16early start for Dave and Juan in the Podvins hopper so right there Dave would give us the angle we

00:37:23need

00:37:24but what we're gonna do is we're gonna make this a less of an abrupt angle so the material has

00:37:28a

00:37:28better way of coming to the trommel so it's not getting stuck on this hard angle hey gets trapped

00:37:34on the edges of the hopper restricting the flow of material through the Podvins plant Juan and Dave will

00:37:42create a large funnel using three-quarter inch steel plates allowing more pay to flow into the trommel

00:37:49we don't have a lot of shots at this you know three-quarter inch steel up here is expensive oh

00:37:55yeah and if we screw one of these up and don't get the cut right yeah we're kind of screwed

00:38:00that's to

00:38:01say the least all right okay got it let's do it now that I got the pattern laid out the

00:38:13way I

00:38:13want I'm gonna put the torch on there and then the torch will do the rest it allows me to

00:38:22keep

00:38:22on working getting other things done and built we haven't had a rescue where we've had to do so

00:38:26much cutting and fabricate so many things at one time we're burning on the CNC table now we're gonna

00:38:31be cutting with this arm as well we're pulling everything that we have in our arsenal to get it

00:38:35done in time and hopefully it's enough you Cody yeah I'm Dave hey Dave good to meet you thanks for

00:38:56coming out we'll take a look all right follow me up will do back on the hunt for better ground

00:39:01on

00:39:02the Podvins 2,000 acre claim Dave brings in local dirt detective Cody Pink I called in a geologist the

00:39:11more information I have of what's underneath and the rock composition and how this was all formed

00:39:17will help me get these guys on better gold I think to get to a better gold concentrations we need

00:39:25to

00:39:25get as close to the bedrock as you get and that's up in the canyon both the Dickensons and the

00:39:31Podvins

00:39:32mine the lower reaches of Boulder Creek where bedrock is far below the surface Boulder Creek

00:39:39is underexplored the potential is high this is the unicorn that everybody's looking for did the old

00:39:49timers find at all certainly not this is an adventure go upstream and do some prospecting try

00:39:57to figure out if there's viable gold let's go see all we got to worry about is the Bears

00:40:14we need to go upstream to find better gold on a mission to rescue two operations in central Alaska I

00:40:22think we should do a couple of pans here we're not quite to the bedrock yet but I believe true

00:40:28bedrock

00:40:28is below us here Dave Turin and geologist Cody Pink head up Boulder Creek on the hunt for better gold

00:40:37I'll

00:40:37take one side of the stream you take the other okay now that we've gone upstream I'm hoping to see

00:40:51more

00:40:53color you find anything in the first pan nope nothing to get too excited about we're not at the bedrock

00:41:05interface so the fact that we're not seeing nuggets of gold in every pan isn't necessarily discouraging

00:41:15I'm gonna have to go further upstream okay you want to just hop on back yeah bedrock forms an

00:41:24impenetrable layer which should capture heavy gold particles but not all ground is gold bearing

00:41:36we've definitely got bedrock coming down to the creek and it looks like there's a little bench right up in

00:41:42there for the slow-moving water is okay let's go investigate that I love this stuff brings me back to

00:41:49the old-timers comes down to a pan and a man in a creek I just love it I absolutely

00:41:55love it

00:42:01I think I think I had one piece one right at the head there a little bit way up really

00:42:11do you see anything in yours no nothing

00:42:30it's the last piece I gotta cut as Dave scrambles for better ground Juan cuts to the chase on the

00:42:37podvins hopper fix we were able to get all those plates cut there in a matter of maybe 45 minutes

00:42:43you know that would have taken somebody by hand you know half a day to cut that we've got to

00:42:48prep them a little bit and then they're ready to go on to the plant so it does save a

00:42:51lot of time

00:42:52these are three quarter inch plates this one right here probably weighs 125 130 pounds they're not light but it's

00:43:00the type of material you need for these bigger plants that's definitely 130 pounds

00:43:15so we're cutting out the pieces for the distribution box on Fred's plant the chute will rest under the shaker

00:43:23deck to give an even feed of material into the sluices

00:43:29we need all that material and we're going to concentrate it and then we're going to distribute it where we

00:43:33want it

00:43:36this is going to be the bottom pan of it we're going to put sides and those two downspouts that'll

00:43:41be the center of both sluices

00:43:44ready to do a little work yes sir all right so what we're going to do is we're going to

00:43:48start welding this

00:43:48out this is going to be your distribution box so what we'll do is we'll get going on it we'll

00:43:52help you

00:43:52kind of get started on welding it I don't have anything this fancy

00:43:59you're pushing uphill you're right about this angle push uphill right slowly you make sure that

00:44:05you get both sides let it get wet when you travel up there you go move a little quicker

00:44:14it actually it's really cool for me to come in here and see you guys you know from where you

00:44:18guys

00:44:18started with that little plant in Arizona to where you're at now you know you guys got a full-size

00:44:22plant

00:44:22you got more equipment you're actually running some decent yardage and it's got to be fun to be able to

00:44:26be out here with your dad and your brother to work and then be able to kind of spend the

00:44:30summer

00:44:30together hard work my first gold claim was when I was 12 years old it was Dickinson one

00:44:38are we gonna find some gold this season has been really hard out here it's been really difficult for

00:44:45us but trying to push forward I really want to stay out here doing this I want to I want

00:44:52to come out

00:44:52here every summer and hopefully have a family and bring them up here too that's my goal find a girl

00:44:59who

00:44:59can move some dirt that's pretty good man oh this is very useful I need to know this stuff you

00:45:19know

00:45:19you saw how quick that was right yeah just little things like that are gonna help you along your career

00:45:24it sounds like you want to keep on doing this for a while right it's awesome to see Josh in

00:45:33there

00:45:33working with Juan teaching him some different tips and tricks on welding it looks like he's he's having

00:45:38fun and learning things that's always great sweet man I'm looking forward to seeing this on the plan

00:45:50well I'm not giving up yet let's try one more time let's do one more where the bedrock dips in

00:45:58maybe we

00:45:59can find a trap two miles upstream on Boulder Creek Cody and Dave are yet to find any indications of

00:46:11higher value ground we're beating a dead horse we hit it hard would we pull how many pants did we

00:46:24all

00:46:24pull 16 18 pans today yeah to find two little specks of gold I'm not real encouraged and yeah

00:46:32probably what the old-timers did could be why this was overlooked I think they did the same thing we

00:46:37did

00:46:37yeah I think they panned it and we're like yeah Dave's research shows gold deposits but his test on

00:46:45a two-mile stretch of Boulder Creek uncovers no signs of concentrated gold the guys that are mining

00:46:53here there's gold in the sluice box but it's very lean yeah I mean they're not going to have

00:47:00expectations that if they go up further they're going to find better gold even that information is good

00:47:10information yeah when I set out on this prospecting journey you know my goal was to find better gold

00:47:17Cody thought there was better gold upstream what we found is there really isn't so now plan B is to

00:47:25up the production to get them mining as efficiently as we can they're on lean ground but I think they

00:47:33can

00:47:33make money here coming up we got to shut it off or it's going to keep burning we're getting ready

00:47:43to flare back up over here this is ice you're running 110 yards an hour won't do it I've been

00:47:54losing my

00:47:55mind whoa that doesn't look terrible for four hours wow awesome I've got a huge fuel bill to pay

00:48:16that's almost 28 grand we owe them fuel right now they won't deliver until I get caught up I paid

00:48:23the 90

00:48:23day past due but we're still 60 days past due in the Dickinson's camp central Alaska with seven

00:48:31weeks till the end of season Fred and his boys take stock Josh I know you've got your credit card

00:48:37payment due is there anything else just a regular amount of 250 okay pay my car insurance off I get

00:48:46them on payment keeps going up yeah we can't pay it off right now but I can get you the

00:48:51minimum payment

00:48:52so most of the next two cleanups is going to fuel so we're going to have to kind of be

00:48:57snug until we

00:48:58can get those in there those boys are making big sacrifices to be out here and to to build this

00:49:06as a

00:49:06family we're miles from the Arctic Circle and hours away from the nearest town you know they're 20 and 22

00:49:13years old most people are out with their friends doing fun things I know it's hard for me to be

00:49:18away from

00:49:18my wife but I'm in my 50s I hadn't really considered how difficult this really could be for them

00:49:34hey Fred hey Dave how you doing doing good man how are you hey I wanted to kind of look

00:49:40at your pit

00:49:41after his pay prospecting mission fails to find higher grade pay Dave sets his sights on the

00:49:48production side of Fred's operation this is all overburden that we flip back to here okay there's

00:49:55some logistical things that I think I can help them with I took a quick look at his pit it

00:50:02looks pretty

00:50:02unorganized you know they shut down oh gosh we're out of pay so they go down and dig pay and

00:50:08then they're

00:50:08like all right we got pay let's run so I want to get them more efficient let me ask you

00:50:14something how

00:50:15do you get your pay out of there to your wash plant so right now we right we ride an

00:50:21excavator so we it's

00:50:23almost three times from pay to there you'd swing it to there swing it maybe four times it's four yeah

00:50:30probably four flips the idea originally was to push it with the dozer I haven't been able to build a

00:50:36road and run it why not right on here this is really soft I can make a road here just

00:50:42push this

00:50:43out of the way and get you a pretty decent road in here down into the cut you mean yeah

00:50:47to the cut

00:50:48oh wow I love it yeah that would be good if you flip pay four times it's a waste of

00:50:56fuel and it's a

00:50:57waste of you know sunshine if I have a dozer I think I could get a road to the wash

00:51:03plant that you

00:51:04can continually get pay from and then he's good to go so give me a day and I think I'd

00:51:10get it done

00:51:11Dave's plan use a bulldozer to build a road from the wash plant to Fred's cut this will allow Fred

00:51:19and the boys to push pay seamlessly the 300 yards from cut to plant in one move eliminating the need

00:51:28for the excavator but Fred's D9 is still out of commission Dave's plans exciting it's good I like

00:51:36it you know he's got a whole lot more experience than I do the dozer breaks constantly is really the

00:51:41problem I think we're on day three or four I don't even remember right now how's it going kid we've

00:51:48got a

00:51:48leak right on this third gasket is that one we just replaced yeah wait is it leaking from here or

00:51:56is it

00:51:56leaking from here that one oh shoot oh well pull it back apart there's nothing else we can do it's

00:52:04important that we have this thing Dave's got a new plan to push pay to the plant with it but

00:52:08without

00:52:08this dozer that plan can't happen we're gonna do is we're gonna take the crane truck over there get

00:52:19these lifted up where we need them and get them in place those are still down Dave helps one transport

00:52:25the finished plates for the Podvins hopper it's all hands on deck we got to get these plates down

00:52:30there to the Podvins we got to get this in the hopper is built originally too sharp so the hopper

00:52:52basically will hang a rock up and then it gets a big mound in there and plugs it so by

00:52:57doing this

00:52:58doesn't allow rocks to hang up in there it's gonna be awesome joining the fight is the Podvins

00:53:04welder Casey Stegno coming over you guys good coming down we raised it about this high and then

00:53:18it gives him this much more room for material to sit in here this is gonna help keep rocks off

00:53:25the

00:53:25spray bar mom thought of that protecting the spray bars that's awesome because it's something we

00:53:31didn't even think of or no better than I could imagine they should fix the hopper pretty much

00:53:36100% looks great man thank you you got a lot of welding to do buddy a lot of welding

00:53:44to do yeah

00:54:02starting all the cuts on the Podvins distribution shoot it's gonna be a v-splitter we're actually

00:54:07gonna do four runs there's only two days to go before the final test runs in the race to fix

00:54:14two

00:54:14plants Juan and the crew are hot on the build of the Podvins large 10-foot distribution box right now

00:54:22the way the plants running there's a big chance that they're losing a lot of the fine gold having

00:54:26more even feed across the whole box is gonna help that material enters the 10-foot wide sluice at one

00:54:37point flowing down the edge of the box with no place to settle gold is being lost out the end

00:54:44to cope

00:54:46with the extra material through the plant and to recover more gold one is building a distribution

00:54:53box with four down spouts spreading the flow of material across the entire width of the sluice

00:55:01taking on two big bills in the same time that we normally do one build it's hard enough but we're

00:55:07coming out swinging ultimately I know their plants gonna be better for what we're doing to it between the

00:55:12hopper and the distribution it's gonna be a whole other machine fire fire fire fire fire at our camp

00:55:43fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire

00:55:46fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire

00:55:51fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire

00:55:55fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire

00:55:55fire

00:55:55Let me.

00:55:56It's my machine.

00:56:01We got to snuff this all out.

00:56:02Yes, sir.

00:56:03Put dirt on top.

00:56:03Got it.

00:56:17There's a patch right there.

00:56:19There's patches right there.

00:56:22Alex.

00:56:25We're getting ready to flare back up over here.

00:56:36Come on.

00:56:38We got to shut it off or it's going to keep burning.

00:56:41In the Alaska Double Rescue, wildfire breaks out, threatening the miners' camps.

00:56:47When the wind's like this, I mean, if it were to get roaring, there'd be no stopping it.

00:56:51So they're going to come with the cat and spread all this dirt on top there to shut the air

00:56:55off.

00:56:55Yeah.

00:56:56Because the wind is just firing the members right back up.

00:56:58Chuck!

00:56:59He's going to take the dozer and push all this dirt right over top.

00:57:03So it should smother it.

00:57:05Okay.

00:57:10Nice work, dude.

00:57:11Good job.

00:57:13This could have been catastrophic.

00:57:15It's blowing straight to our camp.

00:57:17We could have had a really bad situation.

00:57:20So we'll throw dirt over it and we should suffocate it.

00:57:22Good work, gentlemen.

00:57:23Go team!

00:57:24Absolutely.

00:57:25Teamwork makes the dream work.

00:57:26You got to come together under pressure.

00:57:28You got to do it.

00:57:28You know?

00:57:29We're a team.

00:57:30All of us.

00:57:30So it has to be that way or you don't make it out here.

00:57:33You did a great job, Matt.

00:57:34You went in there with the excavator.

00:57:36You're actually ripping it up, getting it all put out.

00:57:38Good work.

00:57:39Pretty good, Matt.

00:57:40Nice work, boys.

00:57:42Good job.

00:57:43Good job, Matt.

00:57:43Well, that was pretty scary.

00:57:45With the community help, everybody jumping in, helping out, we got it out.

00:57:50Good job, bud.

00:57:52All right.

00:57:52Good job for you, too.

00:57:53Getting that water pump.

00:57:54Yeah, we got that put out, huh?

00:57:56All right.

00:57:57A little bit of everybody, I think.

00:57:58Oh, definitely.

00:58:08What's going on?

00:58:09A little surprise from Freddy just showed up.

00:58:11Really?

00:58:12Brand new table.

00:58:14Freddy came through.

00:58:15Sweet.

00:58:16Here's the baby.

00:58:18Wow, nice.

00:58:19Could make life a little bit easier for you.

00:58:21Definitely.

00:58:22No more brushing?

00:58:23No more brushing.

00:58:24No more brushing.

00:58:25And your gold is at this end.

00:58:26You can look at it.

00:58:27It's bright and shiny.

00:58:28It's nice.

00:58:29Perfect.

00:58:29I'm excited to see it working.

00:58:32Okay.

00:58:33I'm clear.

00:58:34All right.

00:58:36Good, Dave.

00:58:37I like it.

00:58:38I think it's going to be a game changer.

00:58:39That's for sure.

00:58:42Since this thing's very heavy, I cut some inch and a half, two inch pipe.

00:58:46We put it on the ground and we're going to use that as rollers when we get it to roll

00:58:49it.

00:58:52You happy with it here?

00:58:54Absolutely.

00:58:54Yeah, I think it's a good place.

00:58:55Awesome.

00:59:03Pull the throttle.

00:59:06After days of blood, sweat, and oil.

00:59:10Come on, baby.

00:59:11Come on.

00:59:12You can do it.

00:59:19Good job, Brian.

00:59:25That D9 is kind of a really important piece of equipment.

00:59:27It was definitely crucial to get that up and running.

00:59:29Brian knocked it out of the park.

00:59:31You know, for a 20-year-old man to take that on and take it apart himself and put it

00:59:35back

00:59:35together, it's impressive.

00:59:37Feeling pretty good.

00:59:39The dozer's warming up.

00:59:41So far, no leaks.

00:59:46Nicely done, kid.

00:59:47Thanks.

00:59:50Nicely done.

00:59:51Very pleased.

00:59:53Couldn't be prouder of Brian pulling this thing apart and putting it back together.

00:59:56He did a good job.

01:00:01We get Dave behind the controls and we'll be able to see what old girl can do.

01:00:05D9 back in action.

01:00:07Dave begins his plan to maximize the Dickinson's production.

01:00:12So if I get in that road where he can push with the dozer, it's way more efficient than

01:00:16flipping his pay.

01:00:18Once he builds this road and starts ramping it up, it's going to be pretty easy for us

01:00:22to just push from where the pay is over to the wash plant.

01:00:26It's going to be a whole lot faster than doing it with this excavator.

01:00:29So we're happy about it.

01:00:36the sea is so good.

01:00:39It's been a while on the ice.

01:00:40Oh, no, come on.

01:00:42Come on.

01:00:48Frozen ground.

01:00:49I'm sliding.

01:01:03I mean, this is ice, it's perma-cross, and I can't get up on here, I just slide off.

01:01:19It's his dozer, I don't want to break it.

01:01:24It's just solid ice, and sometimes just like concrete.

01:01:33Permafrost, permanently frozen ground, blocks the path of Dave's new road.

01:01:38Well, good news and bad news.

01:01:41Okay.

01:01:42Good news, Brian, the engine's running good.

01:01:45Oh, good.

01:01:46So the bad news is that ground's frozen.

01:01:54And I did a couple slides on it.

01:01:56Oh, okay.

01:01:57And I just don't want to get on that ice and throw a track.

01:02:02Okay.

01:02:02That's what scares me.

01:02:05Fred doesn't have a lot of options, and it's kind of desperate times.

01:02:21There's hundreds, hundreds of weld.

01:02:25While Dave devises a plan to overcome the ice, on the Podvin mine, Casey is 11 hours into

01:02:32welding hopper plates with no end in sight.

01:02:36This needs to be able to handle the rocks that are falling in, plus the excavator touching

01:02:40it.

01:02:41It's this three quarter inch plate, so you're trying to get the weld all the way through.

01:02:45If you just put a little bit of weld on the outside, it'll snap.

01:02:48You know, through there I had to go over it 10, 15 times.

01:02:51It was a lot of welding.

01:02:53Still going to be maybe three more passes here.

01:03:03I'm just trying to figure out a plan here.

01:03:07My dozer keeps slipping on that ice, but it's going to be difficult.

01:03:11In the Dickinson's cut, Dave puzzles through his permafrost roadblock.

01:03:17If you could clean that up, pitch it up and back, I could probably get it.

01:03:21See if we can build a road around the ice, maybe.

01:03:24Yeah.

01:03:24You want me to try that?

01:03:25Yeah.

01:03:26All right.

01:03:26I think we've got a plan.

01:03:28The problem is, in the middle of my road is a big chunk of ice.

01:03:32With Fred's help on the excavator, I think I can maneuver around it.

01:03:38Let's go.

01:03:46Dave's plan is to use an excavator to reclaim the low area beside the frozen ground using tailings and overburden.

01:03:55Then, build the road around the ice.

01:04:02Oh, .

01:04:05It's very frozen solid.

01:04:08Mother Nature's trying to say, she's mine.

01:04:13I'm going to politely disagree.

01:04:24Coming up.

01:04:26As Dave and Fred battle the ice, Juan presses ahead with the installation of Fred's new distribution box.

01:04:35So we've got the splitter chute all built.

01:04:37What we're going to do, we already cut that existing chute off.

01:04:40We're going to make this up to that base right there and get it welded in.

01:04:44Lower that down a little bit, Alex.

01:04:47That box isn't square.

01:04:50They look right on edge there.

01:04:52If I push down on mine, I might be able to get it.

01:04:55I wonder if we can suck this in.

01:04:57Probably not.

01:04:57So I've got a full quarter-inch to three-eighths gap on the top.

01:05:05.

01:05:06It's in.

01:05:07It's just, we've got a big-ass gap now.

01:05:10Um, terrible.

01:05:13losing my mind.

01:05:30Go get me some mild steel trap from up top.

01:05:33A couple of scraps so we can cut some of these angles out, please.

01:05:35Okay.

01:05:37On the final day of fixes in Boulder Creek, Juan hits a snag on the Dickinson's wash plant,

01:05:44just hours out from the second test runs.

01:05:49We're going to have to make some adjustment over here.

01:05:52You know, it fit really good, but I didn't realize that that chute as it went further in,

01:05:56it wasn't square, so now we're going to have to make a little bit of a filler piece,

01:06:00which is not the end of the world, but, uh, we'll get it.

01:06:03It just takes a little longer.

01:06:08This is not exactly how we wanted it, but it's what we've got to do to make it work.

01:06:15Travis, can you give me more 60-10?

01:06:17You know, it's something we have to do in the field.

01:06:19We just have to adapt and make a little filler plate, but it's just part of it.

01:06:23While Juan finishes the distribution chute installed...

01:06:28Despite a few obstacles, this plan's coming together.

01:06:32Fred and Dave make inroads in the cut.

01:06:37It's starting to come together with him flipping overburden.

01:06:42If we get that dozer in here, I think I can get it done.

01:06:46Low ground, now packed with overburden, Dave attempts to push past the ice.

01:07:13It's working.

01:07:16Woo!

01:07:17Woo!

01:07:23Ice bypass, Dave completes his new pay highway.

01:07:31So I'm about ready to turn around and start pushing pay.

01:07:40It's starting to push the pay, it's starting to give it up to the lost plant.

01:07:44So we can start to hook up.

01:07:52Yeah, it's looking good right now.

01:08:03It's a lot more organized.

01:08:05You got an excavator feeding, dozer feeding the excavator.

01:08:09They're in business.

01:08:20All major fixes now complete at the Dickensons.

01:08:24We're just finishing up the splitter.

01:08:27Juan turns his attention to the Podvin's larger chute.

01:08:32We're actually going to split it four ways.

01:08:34The material coming off the bottom of the trommel is going to hit this.

01:08:37It'll split twice.

01:08:39And then once it comes down each side, it'll split again.

01:08:42So that way it actually evenly splits to four different parts.

01:08:47They'll be able to run more material and they'll be able to smooth it more efficiently.

01:08:51Done?

01:08:52I think it's great.

01:08:53I'm excited to see it finished up.

01:08:55I think it's going to be awesome.

01:08:58Coming up!

01:08:59Final welds made, Juan races to get the splitter installed.

01:09:05Trying to do two plants at the same time with the same amount of time is really difficult.

01:09:10It's been a long build, but it's getting there.

01:09:12Up above, welder Casey works on the final beads on the hopper.

01:09:17About two days and about 22 hours worth of welding.

01:09:22This is the last weld.

01:09:28All right, that's done.

01:09:30They're in.

01:09:36It's done.

01:09:37Good job.

01:09:38Thanks, buddy.

01:09:39It should be good.

01:09:39You know, in that hopper, it really should be able to get that material flowing the way they want it.

01:09:44I agree.

01:09:44Instead of getting stuck, you know, it should flow on its own.

01:09:47They get up to 200 yards an hour.

01:09:49Now I think the sluice box is going to accept it.

01:09:52Oh, yeah. Yeah.

01:09:52It looks good.

01:09:53I'm happy with it.

01:10:03Perfect.

01:10:03Let's flip it on and just see if everything's working.

01:10:05Back at the Podvin workshop, Dave gives a crash course for the new gold table.

01:10:12Pump's working.

01:10:13Got a nice bump to it.

01:10:15Hi, guys.

01:10:18Eric.

01:10:18Look at that.

01:10:20There's your new table.

01:10:21Do you guys have any cons or something that we could run across this table?

01:10:25We've got our tailings off of what we used to do off our old table.

01:10:29Give it a try.

01:10:30Yeah.

01:10:33It's crazy.

01:10:37Sure beats painting the table with a fake punch.

01:10:39I know, right?

01:10:41That's impressive.

01:10:42That is very impressive.

01:10:43That's impressive.

01:10:43So you're just really walking around in circles and adjusting instead of brushing for three, four days.

01:10:48Maybe an hour.

01:10:49Oh.

01:10:53I am impressed with that.

01:10:54A lot more time for Eric and Liva and everyone else to spend more time doing other things around it.

01:11:01Wow.

01:11:02It was really fun to see Daryl, Liva, and Eric see what that gold table can do.

01:11:08And it's kind of a game changer because it takes so much less time to do your cleanups.

01:11:15And Daryl gets it because now his time can be better spent doing something else.

01:11:23It's down to the wire on both operations.

01:11:28And at the Dickinson's wash plant, Juan races to build the plumbing system for the new hopper jet.

01:11:36All they had for water was this little spray bar.

01:11:39So by adding that jet, we're going to introduce more water but also be able to control the feed.

01:11:45The team add a new six-inch pipe diverting water from the existing system up to the hopper jet.

01:11:53That's the final walls for the tube.

01:11:55We're going to move as quick as we can right now.

01:11:57We've still got miles to go but hopefully we can start a test run soon.

01:12:04There's never enough hours in a day.

01:12:06There really isn't.

01:12:07Josh, you're going to get burnt a little bit.

01:12:09You're going to be okay though.

01:12:10You'll survive.

01:12:11Yeah, right.

01:12:18I'm laying out the deflector for the back of the hopper.

01:12:21This is going to deflect the water from going straight out to down and actually hit the pan so that

01:12:25way you push the material in.

01:12:27As Juan wraps up the water fix.

01:12:30Come on big boy, let's go.

01:12:32Dave and Josh install the finishing touches to the shaker system.

01:12:37These are the counterweights.

01:12:38We're going to put these on to give more violent shake.

01:12:41So that it actually throws the rock up.

01:12:48I do not want these to come off.

01:12:51Trust me.

01:12:52All right.

01:12:52Everybody's working hard now.

01:12:54We've got Alex and Travis and Juan's up above.

01:12:57We've got Brian, me, Fred's going to set a pump.

01:13:01Juan's just about got the water jet in the back in the feeder.

01:13:04That way we can run the test run.

01:13:07I think we're very close.

01:13:08What this does, when the water hits the back of this, it'll push it forward.

01:13:12It's going to actually wash down this plate.

01:13:15We're going to call that good.

01:13:16It's done.

01:13:17It's in.

01:13:17It's all welded in.

01:13:18All plumbed in.

01:13:19We're ready to go.

01:13:22Both plants are now finished.

01:13:25With daylight fading, Juan and Dave must complete two test runs to be sure their fixes are working.

01:13:33It's been a long haul.

01:13:34You know, trying to take on two plants of this size with the same time, it's tough.

01:13:38And we're running out of daylight.

01:13:40Oh, I know.

01:13:40And his season's getting close to the end.

01:13:42Yeah.

01:13:43Well, hopefully these fixes are going to be a big enough improvement for him so he can

01:13:45make up the time.

01:13:48Fire it up, kid.

01:13:57We ready?

01:14:01First bucket.

01:14:03All right.

01:14:04We're starting the timer right now.

01:14:14Take a look at the box.

01:14:16Oh, it's flowing way better.

01:14:19I like that vibration.

01:14:21I think you sped it up, plus your water jet.

01:14:24Not only that, now with that punch plate not being square, it's not getting hung up.

01:14:29Plus we're smaller openings.

01:14:31They're going to add more yards per hour.

01:14:34Yeah, they're going to be rocking and rolling more than they think.

01:14:39Looks good.

01:14:40Looks real good.

01:14:41I like that flow.

01:14:43Pretty evenly matched, Juan.

01:14:44They really are.

01:14:46That distribution actually looks pretty darn good.

01:14:50With the Dickinson's second test underway, Juan and Dave head to fire up the Podvins operation.

01:14:59That doesn't look good, Dave.

01:15:00What's that about?

01:15:01What are we doing?

01:15:01I don't know.

01:15:02Look.

01:15:04Chain drives down.

01:15:08What's going on, guys?

01:15:09What's happening here?

01:15:10We moved the motor.

01:15:29So you pulled it down?

01:15:30Pulled it down from underneath it and put it up on the side.

01:15:33Worried about their drive system, the Podvins have pulled the plug on their second test run.

01:15:40We had a legit concern that with their fixes up there, I really think they're going to push 200 yards

01:15:45an hour material in that drum.

01:15:46On the flip side of that, it might work too good for our drive system.

01:15:51So someone's got to do the next step.

01:15:53Get a little more chain wrapped around it.

01:15:55Yeah, a little more traction on the drive sprocket.

01:15:58Yeah.

01:15:58Once it's getting more material fed into it and up in that production, that's going to be our next spot.

01:16:06You know, it's a little tough.

01:16:07You know, we did a lot of work on this plant.

01:16:09We wanted to see it run.

01:16:10And unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to stay here to watch it run.

01:16:13The truth is I have to be another mine in a couple of days.

01:16:15So I got to get going.

01:16:19There's always a little bit of a worry, even with my calculations and everything else,

01:16:22the yardage they're going to be running and the water flows.

01:16:25But until you actually see it run, sometimes you don't know.

01:16:29You know, so I am a little nervous about that.

01:16:31But regardless, I know what we did here is going to help them tremendously.

01:16:40Slow down. Slow down.

01:16:43Two hours into the test run at the Dickinson Mine.

01:16:47You're running over 110 yards an hour right now.

01:16:50Won't do it.

01:16:52Josh runs double the yardage from the first test.

01:16:57All I see is that deck, and that deck is .

01:17:01He's overfeeding it.

01:17:02We're running over 100 yards an hour right now.

01:17:05There's nothing on that deck right now.

01:17:07He's doing a bucket every 28 seconds.

01:17:12Taking it, though.

01:17:13Here, we're good.

01:17:14Settling out down here, it's good.

01:17:16Pick it up.

01:17:17Pick up the pace, man.

01:17:18I would.

01:17:20Run it.

01:17:22All right, Josh.

01:17:24See what you'll take.

01:17:30It's crazy.

01:17:32They're running out of pace.

01:17:34Dave jumps back in the dozer to keep the plant fed from his pay highway.

01:17:40The dozer Dave on my dozer is pretty awesome.

01:17:46More yardage, more golf.

01:17:48So we're going to have to kind of feel it out and see.

01:17:51It's kind of like going from a V6 to a Ferrari.

01:17:55We can do 10 hours of work in five hours.

01:17:58That's insanity.

01:18:01That doubles our profit.

01:18:03This is really fantastic.

01:18:06Hey, Fred.

01:18:08Hey, that's four hours.

01:18:09Let's shut it down.

01:18:10All right, let's do it.

01:18:12All right, Josh.

01:18:13Last bucket, kiddo.

01:18:14Last bucket.

01:18:17All right, shut her down, buddy.

01:18:30There you go.

01:18:31Yeah, there's a little gold in there.

01:18:33Look at that one.

01:18:34They're deep in the mats.

01:18:35They're right there.

01:18:36There's some big pieces.

01:18:37Check this one out.

01:18:38You're on some gold.

01:18:39Oh, yeah.

01:18:40Contrary to popular belief, there is some gold in Boulder Creek.

01:18:43Looking pretty good, you guys.

01:18:46It's kind of late now.

01:18:46Why don't we clean it up in the morning and see what we got?

01:18:49Let's do a Goldway.

01:18:50Yeah, let's do it.

01:18:52Damn.

01:18:54He ran what we'd normally run in about eight hours in four hours.

01:18:58So I couldn't be happier.

01:18:59It means a lot.

01:19:00It's going to be good.

01:19:13Hey, everyone.

01:19:14Good run.

01:19:15Hey.

01:19:16How are you doing?

01:19:17We got the whole crew here.

01:19:18Everyone's here.

01:19:19Perfect.

01:19:20Six days of hardcore effort across two claims.

01:19:24The families come together to see the results on the Dickinson's operation.

01:19:29Oh, it's the moment of truth.

01:19:31You got the gold?

01:19:32I do, and it looks pretty substantial, dude.

01:19:35Whoa.

01:19:35That doesn't look terrible for four hours.

01:19:36No.

01:19:38Well, you know, it really looks like, you know, we're catching a lot of that fine gold.

01:19:42But honestly, we ran a lot more material during that test run.

01:19:45It was huge.

01:19:46Yeah.

01:19:46Closer to 100 yards an hour on average.

01:19:48Well, let's weigh it up.

01:19:49Huh?

01:19:49You know, during the first test run, we were 0.94.

01:19:52Let's see what this is.

01:19:57There's 0.93.

01:20:001.96.

01:20:02A little over what you did last time.

01:20:03There's still more.

01:20:04Yeah.

01:20:06A little more.

01:20:07Oh, .

01:20:07Tap, tap, tap.

01:20:102.64.

01:20:12Oh.

01:20:12Huge increase.

01:20:13That's almost two and a half times?

01:20:14Yeah, nearly two and a half times.

01:20:172.64 ounces.

01:20:19A 180% increase on their first run.

01:20:24That is really good.

01:20:25That's dang good.

01:20:26That's over half an ounce an hour, which is what we're looking for right there.

01:20:30Absolutely.

01:20:30You know, if this isn't a motivator, I don't know what's going to be.

01:20:33You know, this should be a motivator to say, hey, you know what?

01:20:35This is what we really can produce.

01:20:36Let's rock and roll.

01:20:37That's a game changer for us.

01:20:39We really appreciate it.

01:20:39Oh, gosh, yeah.

01:20:40Well, you know, it's a shame that we weren't able to watch you guys' plant run.

01:20:44But when you guys get running, please let us know how that goes.

01:20:47Absolutely.

01:20:47I really think it's going to make a huge improvement.

01:20:49Send us a video.

01:20:50Let us know how it's going.

01:20:51We will do that.

01:20:51Please.

01:20:52We'll do it.

01:20:53We don't see any reason that ain't going to get us screaming material through that.

01:20:57Thank you so much for everything you've done.

01:21:00Both you guys.

01:21:00Likewise.

01:21:02Thanks for the opportunity.

01:21:03Yeah.

01:21:04Appreciate you guys.

01:21:05Yeah.

01:21:05Here's your gold, Fred.

01:21:06Thank you, sir.

01:21:07Right on.

01:21:08Nice work.

01:21:09Thank you, everyone.

01:21:09You know, honestly, it was a pleasure working with you guys.

01:21:12We better get on the road.

01:21:13Thank you guys all.

01:21:14Hey, great working with you.

01:21:15Likewise.

01:21:16Hey, thank you.

01:21:17Appreciate it, man.

01:21:17Good to see you, bud.

01:21:19This is huge.

01:21:20I knew they would increase our production, but I had no idea it was going to be that profound.

01:21:26When Juan and Dave got here, it wasn't looking very good for us, but seeing this the way

01:21:31that it is, and if we can finish this season the way I think we can, the boys have a

01:21:35future

01:21:35here on this mine.

01:21:36We can keep going.

01:21:37And when I get tired of mining, I want to be able to turn the keys over to them and

01:21:40say,

01:21:41hey, you guys, just keep doing what you're doing.

01:21:43Now we can do that.

01:21:45Honestly, I feel like we've got this.

01:21:47I'm very excited about the fixes they've made.

01:21:50I think it's going to be absolutely awesome.

01:21:52When they brought up the idea of changing the sluice box, I wasn't too keen on it.

01:21:58Hey, I'm allowed to be wrong once a year.

01:22:01I'm excited for these guys.

01:22:03It really does warm the heart because we all work together, and that's what it's all about.

01:22:08It's community and miners helping each other out.

01:22:19Hi, Juan and Dave.

01:22:20This is Darrell.

01:22:21Will seasons win good?

01:22:23We sluiced through, I don't even know how many acres, but we did it in a hurry.

01:22:27That wash plant's doing over 200 yards an hour exactly how we wanted it to,

01:22:31and thank you guys for all your help with it.

01:22:34Everything on the hopper is phenomenal.

01:22:36It's working great.

01:22:37Matthew can stuff a full bucket in, and it just eats it.

01:22:42Our first thing up was 95 ounces.

01:22:44That was the best that we've ever had.

01:22:47We just got just over 500 ounces.

01:22:50That's huge.

01:22:51We're very excited for years to come on what that thing's going to do.

01:22:55It was awesome.

01:22:57It was awesome to have this dream come true.

01:23:03Hey, Juan and Dave.

01:23:05Fred Dickinson here.

01:23:06Just wanted to let you know that we're doing great.

01:23:09We're getting to the end of the season.

01:23:11As you can see, there's snow up on the mountain.

01:23:14We're doing pretty well out here.

01:23:15A little late in the season, but we're going to keep mining.

01:23:21There's our road up to the wash plant.

01:23:24There's our cut.

01:23:25You can see quite a bit of it's missing now.

01:23:35Sorry about the noise in the background.

01:23:37Brian's ready to run.

01:23:38All right.

01:23:39Thanks again, guys.

01:23:40We'll see you later.

01:23:41Bye.

01:23:42Bye.

01:23:45Bye.

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