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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
00:00:16the fate 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 it's blowing straight to our camp this really may not happen
00:00:42for any of these 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 pod 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 recipes Freddy 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 right 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
00:02:12well yeah and you were in Arizona and now you're in Alaska yes sir after Freddy and Juan visited us
00:02:20we
00:02:20were in a really good place hey guys welcome six years ago in their first televised rescue Freddy and
00:02:29Juan found the Dickinson family's dreams of gold dying in the desert right now my hobby has to feed
00:02:35my family let's get him some more gold right on let's do it man a little awestruck by what these
00:02:42guys are able to do 1.13 that's huge I can't tell you how much we appreciate you guys coming
00:02:49out
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
00:03:03about me and the boys being able to do something that would support all of us I'm not gonna lie
00:03:10we're
00:03:11struggling the ground in Alaska is nothing like the ground in Arizona getting the material to the
00:03:17wash plant getting the material run has become a bit of a logistical nightmare I'm out of my depth
00:03:23I'm not here because this is fun and games for me I enjoy mining but I'm out here to build
00:03:29something
00:03:29for my family what was your goal going into this season going into this season our goal was 200
00:03:38ounces originally now I'd be lucky if I can hit 100 so how are you doing this year then 22
00:03:48ounces so
00:03:49far halfway through the season the people we lease from the Podvins they get a cut which is always
00:03:55painful but they support us and since I've been here every time we break down they're over helping
00:04:00us pulling us out okay well you guys got some gold to show us we don't have any of the
00:04:05gold it sold to
00:04:06the refinery I went home last year very in debt and at this year we are we're struggling to break
00:04:13even
00:04:14much less pay off last year's debt so I'm about a hundred and eighty five thousand dollars upside down
00:04:20I'm gonna go bankrupt here and what we want to do is kind of get out there and do a
00:04:28test run with you
00:04:28guys you kind of know the what we do and how we do things you know Dave and I we're
00:04:32gonna kind of sit
00:04:32back and watch you guys and really see what we can do to help you guys out well you guys
00:04:37ready to run
00:04:37some dirt sure yeah let's show us that wash plant let's get it fired up let's go going from their
00:04:44humble
00:04:44little plant Fred's grown he's progressed scaled up but he's got a long ways to go to make it work
00:04:50out
00:04:50here firing it up we're gonna do a four-hour run I love dirt moving it makes it all the
00:05:07more fun when
00:05:08there's gold involved Fred's son Josh loads pay into an eight-foot hopper that washes down into a
00:05:1712-foot shaker deck material is screened through a square hole punch plate and fed down into the sluice
00:05:25runs below where the gold should collect brother Brian in the D9 clears tailings to prevent them backing
00:05:34up a lot of that material is getting stuck on that screen that punch plate the bottleneck there yeah
00:05:40a hundred percent but I think it's about a bucket a minute roughly might be a little less one of
00:05:49the
00:05:49issues they've got is the way the materials coming down it's really going down one sluice box about this
00:05:55wide they're really utilizing about 30 to 40 percent of their sluice box
00:06:04look at the size of that we must have somewhere else in the screen where this is coming through
00:06:09yeah that's massive there'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 this 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
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 doesn't
00:07:05the truth is is our destinies are tied together will rise and fall together landlord the podvins
00:07:12own the rights to over 2 000 acres daryl is the guy everybody goes to for help he just goes
00:07:19yeah I'm
00:07:19in the middle of sluicing but that's okay I'll come help you they've been instrumental in kind of helping
00:07:25us mine this creek so I know this year they're having to run two years worth just to try to
00:07:31make
00:07:31enough to get by and you know start building life for themselves but after the podvins failed to run
00:07:37last season Fred is under pressure to deliver them a healthy royalty to stay in business we've still got
00:07:45a lot to figure out with this wash plan we are struggling to get enough volume on this ground to
00:07:50be able to go home with money damn it this is not good Brian's d9 prevents the wash plant from
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
00:08:49much material yeah just watching it right now on shutdown you can see what it's doing oh yeah well
00:08:54gentlemen once you guys clean it all up and let's let's do a gold way okay we'll meet back up
00:08:59with you
00:08:59guys in the morning and see what we got sounds great you good with that yes sir all right I'm
00:09:05hoping that these guys can work some magic we need to figure out how to run more dirt or to
00:09:10run longer
00:09:14let's go take a look at the podvin plant yeah let's go located half a mile away the podvin operation
00:09:24is midway through a hundred hour run hey how you doing come on there hi I'm Dave how you doing
00:09:34good Daryl Daryl what a beautiful plant thank you it's awesome that you guys are here and we can check
00:09:41this thing out and see if you can help them you built this whole thing yeah wow the two boys
00:09:46and I
00:09:47Daryl runs the operation with his partner Levi and two grown sons Matthew and Eric it is designed
00:09:55where we can flip from there flip the sluice box change directions on the side of the creek a lot
00:10:00of
00:10:01pot in this absolutely we had a diesel repair shop in North Dakota in the oil field and we also
00:10:08had
00:10:08a gravel crushing business on the side so we crushed gravel throughout the summers and branched year
00:10:13round and oil kind of took a dive and we were trying to figure out what we were gonna do
00:10:19and we were
00:10:21drinking at the bar one day I drank way too much and went to bed woke up in the morning
00:10:26Levi was like
00:10:27what'd you what'd you spend on PayPal for 800 bucks I don't know what do you mean she says well
00:10:34you
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 the 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 ten
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 of a
00:11:13design it's like almost a dredge it is a dredge on wheels I like it on this rolling land dredge
00:11:22known
00:11:23as a progressive plant pay is fed into an eight-foot hopper and washed into a 40-foot long trommel
00:11:31a spray
00:11:32bar washes the pay down into the 16 by 10 foot wide sluice box but after taking a full season
00:11:40off sluicing
00:11:41to build it they now can't afford to shut it down so Dave and Juan must assess the wash plant
00:11:47without
00:11:48waiting for a gold way once that wash plant's running it's going to stay around we ain't going
00:11:53to shut down how many yards an hour are you running out of it about 100 120 yards an hour
00:12:00what were you
00:12:01wanting to do out of it at 200 yeah we have to run more material I spent way too much
00:12:08money building that
00:12:08wash went 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
00:12:27Dickinson's plan there's a couple issues that I'm really worried about this is going to be a tricky
00:12:31rescue trying to do two plants at the same time it's going to be a tough few days this is
00:12:39an adventure
00:12:40let's go see coming up I'm very frustrated I mean they did walk and they just didn't see
00:12:47that sluice box is absolutely horrible be careful we don't have a hell of a lot of time
00:12:52slow down honestly really don't give two about the sluice box
00:13:07you can feel it building here in Boulder Creek Alaska Juan and Dave assess the largest of the two
00:13:15operations in their double rescue there's definitely a lot more flow on this side yeah you can feel it
00:13:22but distribution's an issue you feel the ripple and they're pretty lean now it is a little lean
00:13:28you can tell on that side it's going to be super lean yeah you know when you can actually see
00:13:33the
00:13:33gravel coming down it doesn't have a chance to settle out in the map we lose his 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 the hopper
00:13:47it is it is he's having to periodically go in there and push it so he's got some hard angles
00:13:52in there that are and beating the rock and then they get stacked up that's definitely a bottleneck
00:13:58they 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 you put in the box yeah I guess
00:14:11what we
00:14:11need to do is figure out what we can do because my concern is if we tackle the big problem
00:14:15of the
00:14:15hopper now we're going to create that problem further downstream in the sluice box right so
00:14:19it's going to be a multiple part fix the one thing that does kind of make me feel a little
00:14:24bit better about Travis and Alex here yeah so you know it'll be probably a balancing act and really
00:14:29I think we're gonna have to divide and conquer as one puzzles through the potential fixes Dave gets
00:14:37to grips with the Podvins pay dirt I'm just checking see if there's much gold down here I'm not finding
00:14:44much
00:14:45there was two tiny little pieces of gold that'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
00:15:15moves 30 feet further into the cut every two hours it's kind of a unique design it's a progressive plant
00:15:23it
00:15:24basically moves to the material instead of moving the material to it it's as cheap as it gets to be
00:15:30able to process the ground here we go even though the plant is probably one of the nicer plants I've
00:15:35seen that sluice box is a real issue distribution is an issue the hopper is an issue it's going to
00:15:40be
00:15:40tough you know because we're going to have to spread our resources over two mine sites my issue is we
00:15:46don't have a hell of a lot of time this might not work this is it good to see Fred
00:16:00good to see you guys
00:16:03well you guys got some gold to show us from that cleanup we do on the Dickinson mine Fred has
00:16:10the
00:16:10results from yesterday's four-hour test run it's not terrible four hours yeah the little chunkers in
00:16:16there we don't very uh very clean gold you've got some chunky stuff with quartz and then there's a
00:16:21piece that's just flattened nice little pickers you got several different sources here yeah we think so
00:16:27I think there's at least three but yeah that's my best guess all right well let's pour it out let's
00:16:32see what we got huh to stay on track for their 200 ounce season target this four-hour test needs
00:16:40to give Fred and his boys 1.4 ounces 0.94 nearly an ounce just shy of an ounce 30
00:16:50,000 bucks roughly
00:16:51yeah for four hours run yeah it's a third short of their goal you know it's been getting us by
00:16:59but
00:17:00getting by is not good enough no you know not paying off the debts no we're not paying off the
00:17:04debts that's the challenge you know if this number doesn't come up this may be the end of the line
00:17:08here yeah I mean it could be okay I mean we're we're gonna fight it with everything we've got though
00:17:14yeah no fair enough you know I guess uh you know really when it comes down to it you know
00:17:18we don't
00:17:18have a whole lot of time left in the season I think we're lacking in a couple different things
00:17:22but really it's gonna boil down to what Dave and I can do while the time we have here
00:17:25over two mine sites yeah absolutely and any any help makes a big difference we'll go back and kind
00:17:31of come up with a game plan see what we can't do all right good with that go figure it
00:17:34out all right
00:17:35here you go here's your gold thank you sir see you guys in a bit that gold way is what
00:17:43we've been
00:17:44getting but it's it's not enough if we keep going the pace we're at we're not even going to reach
00:17:48half
00:17:48our coal we've got to change something there's quite a bit going on there Dave two big operations
00:17:56on the brink one and Dave break down their task list Brad has a few issues his throughput through
00:18:03the plant is not great I agree we can get his pay up quicker get it piled up and then
00:18:09I see several
00:18:10things that could be fixed right now we're doing about 45 yards an hour you know and the reality is
00:18:15we've got to come up you know 65 yards an hour is really where he needs to be yeah that
00:18:19screen deck
00:18:21that he has there he's got square holes in it they're a corner to corner almost inch and a half
00:18:25right now we're allowing material this big to go through that screen it's huge which is taking up
00:18:30a lot of room in that sluice box so your suggestion is round correct yeah we'll cut a whole new
00:18:35plate but
00:18:35do all round holes and make sure they're one inch this eccentric is pretty easy so that thing is
00:18:42spinning right mm-hmm so you add more weight it's going to make the throw a bigger stroke absolutely
00:18:48what it's going to do is give us a little more violent of a shake yeah but if we get
00:18:52more material
00:18:53through the plant basically we're going to be running more material on that side of the sluice
00:18:57so we're going to have to even that feed out and make it where it distributes equally across the two
00:19:02sluice boxes you good with that I'm good with that what do you think about the the pod bins you
00:19:08know the problem with this we're having to do Fred's and the pod vins at the same time so I
00:19:14know
00:19:14they don't want to shut the plant down yeah that's gonna be interesting the biggest issue I saw with the
00:19:20pod vins plant and you saw it too was that sluice box yeah we got that distribution box coming off
00:19:26the
00:19:26bottom pan it comes in so that material is coming down and again hitting this side of the box yep
00:19:31so what
00:19:32I would like to see here is try to get that material equally distributed across the whole box instead
00:19:38of just favoring that one side yeah you have four runs four runs we can get their production up fixing
00:19:44their feeder it was a little bit cumbersome I mean it it was clogging up a little bit clogging up
00:19:50going
00:19:50out the sides yeah that feeder right now it comes in and then actually has a hard angle where that
00:19:55material is coming in and it's getting stopped up and it's not allowing it to go into the trommel maybe
00:20:00cut some angles some plates to be able to divert that material so it's not so drastic so let's go
00:20:05chat with them see what they say okay all right it'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
00:20:19the issues Dave and I saw this is your punch plate yeah the top you know having those square holes
00:20:24it's
00:20:24a hard edge right so those rocks they get stuck so we'll cut a whole new one put it on
00:20:28there and it's
00:20:29gonna be round holes and make sure they're tapered the right way okay Dave came up with the idea we're
00:20:33gonna add a little more weight to your eccentric as well yeah I think if we put some more weight
00:20:38you'll
00:20:38get a more violent shake so it should kick those rocks up and you should get more through okay we
00:20:44already have an issue with the distribution box right now it's kind of favoring that one side so we
00:20:51will have a true distribution that'll actually feed 50 50 to the box okay so you know with those three
00:20:59things that we're talking about the punch plate eccentric weight and the distribution we're
00:21:04probably looking about thirty five hundred dollars material you know it's a little bit of a big nut to
00:21:09crack and I know right now things are kind of tight so what Dave and I kind of came up
00:21:12with is we're
00:21:12willing to give you guys our labor for free I appreciate that that's amazing I wouldn't even hesitate at
00:21:17that's okay I appreciate that let's do it if you guys are ready to do it if you guys can
00:21:21help us be
00:21:22able to get some of this work done that way we can get all of it done in the time
00:21:24more than happy
00:21:25to absolutely done okay let's do it deal thanks guys those are super critical fixes for us if we
00:21:35can't get that yardage up then we're not going to make enough gold to cover the season
00:21:52hello Darryl how's it going guys in Boulder Creek Alaska morning the livelihoods of two operations
00:22:00are at 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 make it a little longer so that way as the material hits it's able to push in instead of
00:22:31getting stuck I think that's awesome another thing that Dave and I saw is that you're losing gold
00:22:36that sluice box is a real issue so I was your box that you have now go up there and
00:22:41put dividing walls
00:22:42build a distribution box to be able to distribute that material evenly across the four boxes instead
00:22:46of I can tell Eric don't like it not convinced I don't want to split it I do not want
00:22:52to split that
00:22:53box I mean we clean up top eight feet two guys you can be done in an hour and that
00:22:57thing's back
00:22:57running honestly you know I worked under Freddie for the last 11 years and Freddie's made his career
00:23:04on fine gold you know and hundreds you know thousands and thousands of ounces I don't know
00:23:09what the number the real number is the percentage of what you're losing but I would guesstimate you
00:23:13know probably 10 to 15 percent my concern is even if we go in there and we up your production
00:23:20yeah sure we're going to catch a little bit more gold but then also we're actually running the risk
00:23:23of losing more gold honestly really don't give two about the sluice box I really want the production
00:23:32up I spend way too much money building that wash plant to let it run 100 yards an hour the
00:23:37fine gold
00:23:38who cares I was the same production keep that going and I'd forget the sluice box is your bank
00:23:47yeah that's where you're making your money and I've had to learn that as we run more material
00:23:52through that box running the way it is I get it you're going to see an increase in gold yeah
00:23:55but
00:23:56there's going to be a massive increase in lost gold as well it's 16 feet long you know it it's
00:24:01going
00:24:02to catch it I really think that sluice box could stay agree to disagree but I'm good with that you
00:24:10know ultimately it's your guys's plan I want you guys you guys to be happy with what we're going to
00:24:14do
00:24:14and if that's what you guys want you know we'll absolutely do the distribution and work on that
00:24:18hopper I like it that's awesome we're going to up the production which you're all about I like it
00:24:23you know that being said between the hopper fix and working on the distribution it's probably going
00:24:29to be about 3,500 bucks in material and as far as labor we're thinking about an ounce piece
00:24:36you guys are good with it you know that's that's what we can offer
00:24:41do it make it happen if it don't up the production then it cuts in half but but but the
00:24:45deal is but
00:24:46the deal is if we do up the production we get the extra gold there you go I don't think
00:24:51that's gonna
00:24:52happen sounds great bring it in oh gosh all right when we decided to build that wash plant thought well
00:25:02we can build this thing in two months no problem we'll build it in two months we'll still have a
00:25:07half
00:25:07a season we'll be all fine and pay for itself in a heartbeat yeah no it took it took five
00:25:12months to
00:25:13the day there's five or six of us welding and working on that thing constantly every inch of
00:25:20weld on that thing we welded it it's not a little fifty thousand dollar wash plant and everything on
00:25:27that thing is hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of parts you know and now we're to the point
00:25:32where everything's due past due we need to have a successful season here to make this work because
00:25:38we can't keep going we all really are feeling pressure dad definitely feels the pressure we got
00:25:44to find the gold this year the intention was to get 200 yards an hour out of it got better
00:25:51than a half a
00:25:52million bucks invested in this wash plant and one whole entire summer not losing it was a lot of
00:25:57pressure that's our baby I mean we spent a lot of money a lot of downtime and lost money not
00:26:05only is
00:26:06it cash out of pocket to build it but we didn't mind either so we might have lost two million
00:26:10dollars
00:26:10last year and spent to half a million it's tough to let go and let someone else do this that
00:26:16or the
00:26:17other with it but at the same time number guys know what they're doing I trust they're gonna do good
00:26:21work on it set up in the pot vins yard one begins the first of the fixes for the Dickinson's
00:26:34operation
00:26:35it's gonna be difficult because Fred's plant and the pot vins 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 gonna go on Fred's
00:26:46deck
00:26:49larger material slips through the Dickinson's shaker deck and clogs the sluice Juan and Dave will replace
00:26:57the square hole punch plate and add a new one with custom one inch round holes to keep material flowing
00:27:07through the plant they will install a jet into the back of the hopper and add weights to the eccentric
00:27:13shaker system finally to ensure the plant catches gold efficiently one will build a distribution chute to
00:27:23create an even flow of material into the sluice box we're gonna be about 2,000 holes in this plate
00:27:31so
00:27:32there's gonna be substantial cut time once it's done I'm gonna get it out clean it up get it down
00:27:37there and install it over at the Dickinson's wash plant Travis hasn't cut loose so it's ready to come
00:27:48out assisted by Travis Fred and Josh make room for one's new punch plate we believed somebody who said oh
00:27:58square holes are better they're not lift up on it a little bit and then drag it out of there
00:28:17it's stuck I don't want to break anything Josh is my oldest and he's a hell of an operator he's
00:28:30a wizard in
00:28:30that excavator he likes to say he's as 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 hit the spray bars
00:28:50all right
00:29:13yeah thank god that punch plate's gone
00:29:18good riddance this was a failed experiment we're glad to move on
00:29:33next process of this is getting the heads down onto the studs in central Alaska at the Dickinson mine
00:29:43this is Daryl's crane this is his service truck I've used it countless times this season budding
00:29:51mechanic Brian tries to bring the broken d9 back online with equipment loaned from the pudvin operation
00:29:58we all work together look out for each other the miners myself Fred and his guys other people on the
00:30:05creek everyone wants to look out for everyone we're like a small community so this is the top
00:30:11oh okay looks good uh you got the other half though yeah I got those awesome all right bud all
00:30:18right
00:30:18cool once you're done with the truck bring it back up all right I will thank you get some yeah
00:30:24I'll help
00:30:26Fred and his boys out he was in Arizona in the sand in the desert and whatnot so we give
00:30:32him a little
00:30:32guidance here and there Brian is very mechanical he's torn into engines rebuilt engines rebuilt
00:30:38transmissions this is his first trip into a large diesel I was about 14 years old when my dad brought
00:30:48home a car for me and him to work on blown up engine doing this with the boys with my
00:30:55family that's
00:30:56beautiful it's fair to say they've grown up as miners it's just fun to take things apart and put them
00:31:03all back together in the same order it's like a very greasy big Lego me and my dad work very
00:31:10well
00:31:10together we don't really have to say much to understand each other right now there is a little bit of
00:31:16a
00:31:16worry that we financially might not be able to do this next year I worry about my dad and all
00:31:23the
00:31:23pressure that's on him because he's working his ass off and he's trying to make this all work and
00:31:28he's struggling a little bit get her running yeah I want to see it blowing smoke tonight
00:31:37all right I gotta get these two heads on start torquing it all down and put it all back together
00:31:49again
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 and where
00:32:04it came from looking at the archives is helpful to dig deeper into the lean ground he discovered on
00:32:11the potman's claim Dave takes a field trip to the circle district museum I'm looking to gain some
00:32:18clues to how much gold is in Boulder Creek central area maps take a look at these oh boy these
00:32:27are old old
00:32:34maps wow well here we are here's central house Miller house and here's Boulder Creek very very
00:32:46interesting the X means gold placer so this is from geologic reconnaissance math surveyed in 1903 1904 1905
00:33:011906 and here on Boulder Creek there's three red X's that's interesting he's got the X's way at the
00:33:10headwaters of Boulder Creek and we're mining way down at the bottom of the stream which is kind of
00:33:15encouraging the old maps may point to better gold upstream on Boulder Creek Dave calls a local
00:33:25contact to investigate yeah hi is this Cody hey Cody this is David turn
00:33:39it's my least favorite place I try and stay out of that place back at the podvin claim one takes
00:33:46a
00:33:46short break from the cut table to check out the gold room our cleanup process is not efficient that's your
00:33:53table there huh that's our little table so basically what are you doing you get your concentrates out of
00:33:58the sluice box are you running them through like a long time long time it just reduces the fines down
00:34:04then everything gets thrown all over the table yeah we probably average four days yeah four days that
00:34:09you're not doing something else right right nothing quick about it and it looks like Liva really loves it
00:34:17too it's not bad but it's very time-consuming I take care of all the books and make sure all
00:34:26the finances
00:34:26are in line I'm very calculated I have spreadsheets for almost every aspect of this operation the books are
00:34:36not gonna balance if we can't get that plant up to 200 yards an hour last year we spent every
00:34:43penny of our
00:34:44retirement it's very scary to have this large of an investment gold is not guaranteed so there's
00:34:51always the risk factor there's an old joke if you want to make a million gold mining you have to
00:34:56start
00:34:56with two million sometimes it feels like that's what we're doing we're constantly chasing that million
00:35:04dollars so that's definitely a bottleneck so well let me think about it and uh see what we can't do
00:35:12here awesome thank you thank you sir hello what's going on one this turned out to be a little more
00:35:26work than what I anticipated okay one 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 oh yeah it's pretty bad okay well I wanted
00:35:37to see if
00:35:37you had a table a used table or something that we could get in here to be able to help
00:35:41them out well
00:35:42I'm just gonna have to make some calls and see what's going on Juan I know you're gonna have to
00:35:47have it quick so yeah you know we're not looking for a freebie but that they have some money to
00:35:50throw
00:35:51at it if I can get a hold of one Juan I'll make you a heck of a deal on
00:35:55it okay yeah if you can make
00:35:56that work that'll help us out tremendously just let me know as soon as you know and then I'll send
00:36:00somebody that way if we can you got it okay sounds good well I'm gonna get back to doing dirt
00:36:05work here
00:36:05all right buddy thanks red talk to you soon bye for now bye efficiency is key and right now they're
00:36:12taking four days to do a cleanup and that's not acceptable at all you know with a with a good
00:36:15table in here it 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 is to install the Dickinson's newly cut punch plate
00:36:42punch plate is basically a wear item you don't want to fully weld it that way you can go in
00:36:46there
00:36:46and cut those welds out replace the top deck I like it that'll work I like it too that'll work
00:36:52good Dave
00:37:03let's try it right here Dave yeah four more build days left to complete an epic double rescue it's an
00:37:11early start for Dave and Juan in the Podvins hopper so right there Dave would give us the angle we
00:37:18need
00:37:18but what we're gonna do is we're gonna make this a less of an abrupt angle so the material has
00:37:22a
00:37:22better way of coming to the trommel so it's not getting stuck on this hard angle he gets trapped
00:37:29on the edges of the hopper restricting the flow of material through the Podvins plant Juan and Dave
00:37:36will create a large funnel using three-quarter inch steel plates allowing more pay to flow into the trommel
00:37:44we don't have a lot of shots at this you know three-quarter inch steel up here is expensive oh
00:37:49yeah
00:37:49and if we screw one of these up and don't get the cut right yeah we're kind of screwed that's
00:37:56to say
00:37:56the least all right okay got it let's do it now that I got the pattern laid out the way
00:38:08I want I'm
00:38:08gonna put the torch on there and then the torch will do the rest it allows me to keep on
00:38:17working
00:38:17getting other things done and built we haven't had a rescue where we've had to do so much cutting and
00:38:21fabricate so many things at one time we're burning on the CNC table now we're gonna be cutting with
00:38:26this arm as well we're pulling everything that we have in our arsenal to get it done in time and
00:38:30hopefully
00:38:45it's enough
00:38:46you Cody yeah I'm Dave hey Dave good to meet you thanks for coming out we'll take a look all
00:38:52right
00:38:52all right follow me up okay back on the hunt for better ground on the Podvins 2,000 acre claim
00:38:59Dave brings in local dirt detective Cody Pink I called in a geologist the more information I
00:39:06have of what's underneath and the rock composition and how this was all formed will help me get these
00:39:14guys on better gold I think to get to a better gold concentrations we need to get us close to
00:39:21the
00:39:21bedrock yet and that's up in the canyon both the Dickensons and the Podvins mine the lower reaches
00:39:28of Boulder Creek where bedrock is far below the surface Boulder Creek is underexplored the potential
00:39:37is high this is the unicorn that everybody's looking for did the old-timers find it all certainly not
00:39:46this is an adventure go upstream and do some prospecting try to figure out if there's viable
00:39:53gold let's go see all we got to worry about is the bears
00:40:07we need to go upstream to find better gold on a mission to rescue two operations in central Alaska I
00:40:15think we should do a couple pans here we're not quite to the bedrock yet but I believe true bedrock
00:40:21is below us here Dave Turin and geologist Cody Pink head up Boulder Creek on the hunt for better gold
00:40:29I'll take one side of the stream you take the other okay now that we've gone upstream I'm hoping to
00:40:43see more color
00:40:46you find anything in the first pan nope
00:40:52nothing to get too excited about we're not at the bedrock interface so the fact that we're not seeing
00:41:01nuggets of gold in every pan isn't necessarily discouraging I'm gonna have to go further upstream okay you
00:41:10want to just hop on back yeah bedrock forms an impenetrable layer which should capture heavy gold
00:41:21particles but not all ground is gold bearing we've definitely got bedrock coming down to the creek and
00:41:32it looks like there's a little bench right up in there where the slow moving water is okay let's go
00:41:37investigate that I love this stuff brings me back to the old timers comes down to a pan and a
00:41:45man in a
00:41:46creek I just love it I absolutely love it I think I had one piece one right at the head
00:41:58there a little bit way
00:42:01up really do you see anything in yours no nothing
00:42:23it's the last piece I got a cut as Dave scrambles for better ground Juan cuts to the chase on
00:42:30the
00:42:30podvins hopper fix we were able to get all those plates cut there in a matter of maybe 45 minutes
00:42:36you
00:42:37know that would have taken somebody by hand you know half a day to cut that we've got to prep
00:42:41them
00:42:41a little bit and then they're ready going to the plant so it does save a lot of time these
00:42:46are three
00:42:46quarter inch plates this one right here probably weighs 125 130 pounds they're not light but it's
00:42:53the type of material you need for these bigger plants that's definitely 130 pounds
00:43:02podvins steel cut next one moves to the Dickinson's job so we're cutting out the pieces for the
00:43:10distribution box on Fred's plant the chute will rest under the shaker deck to give an even feed of
00:43:18material into the sluices all that material and we're gonna concentrate it and then we're gonna
00:43:25distribute it where we want it this can be the bottom pan of it we're gonna put sides and those
00:43:32two downspouts that'll be the center of both solutions ready to do a little work yes sir all
00:43:39right so what we're gonna do is we're gonna start welding this out this is gonna be your distribution box
00:43:43so what we'll do is we'll get going on it I'll help you uh kind of get started on welding
00:43:47it I don't
00:43:48have anything this fancy you're pushing uphill you're right about this angle push uphill right
00:43:56slowly you make sure that you get both sides let it get wet and you travel up there you go
00:44:02move a
00:44:04little quicker it actually is really cool for me to come in here and see you guys you know from
00:44:11where
00:44:11you guys started with that little plant in Arizona to where you're at now you know you guys got a
00:44:14full-size plant you got more equipment you're actually running some decent yardage and it's
00:44:18got to be fun to be able to be out here with your dad and your brother to work and
00:44:21be able to kind
00:44:22of spend the summer together hard work my first gold claim was when I was 12 years old it was
00:44:30Dickinson
00:44:30one are we gonna find some gold this season has been really hard out here it's been really difficult
00:44:37for us but trying to push forward I really want to stay out here doing this I want to I
00:44:44want to come
00:44:45out here every summer and hopefully have a family and bring them up here too that's my goal find a
00:44:51girl
00:44:52who can move some dirt all right let's see it that's pretty good man oh this is very useful I
00:45:10need
00:45:10to know this stuff you know you saw how quick that was right yeah just little things like that are
00:45:16gonna
00:45:16help you along your career it sounds like you want to keep on doing this for a while right it's
00:45:25awesome to see Josh in there working with Juan teaching him some different tips and tricks on
00:45:29welding it looks like he's having fun and learning things that's always great sweet man I'm looking
00:45:37forward to seeing this on the plan well I'm not giving up yet let's try one more time let's do
00:45:48one
00:45:48more where the bedrock dips in maybe we can find a a trap two miles upstream on Boulder Creek Cody
00:46:00and
00:46:01Dave are yet to find any indications of higher value ground we're beating a dead horse we hit it hard
00:46:15would we pull how many pans did we all pull 16 18 pans today yeah to find two little specks
00:46:21of gold I'm not
00:46:22real encouraged and yeah probably what the old-timers did could be why this was overlooked I think they
00:46:29did the same thing we did yeah they panned it and we're like yeah Dave's research shows gold deposits
00:46:37but his test on a two-mile stretch of Boulder Creek uncovers no signs of concentrated gold the guys that
00:46:45are
00:46:45mining here there's gold in the sluice box but it's very lean yeah I mean they're not gonna have
00:46:52expectations that if they go up further they're gonna find better gold even that information is good
00:46:58information yeah when 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 what we found is there really isn't so now plan B is to
00:47:18up the production to get them mining as efficiently as we can they're on lean ground but I think they
00:47:26can
00:47:26make money here coming up we gotta shut it off or it's gonna keep burning we're getting ready to
00:47:36we're back up over here this is ice you're running 110 yards an hour won't do it I've been losing
00:47:47my
00:47:47mind whoa it doesn't look terrible for four hours wow
00:48:05I've got a huge fuel bill to pay that's almost 28 grand we owe them the fuel right now they
00:48:11won't
00:48:11deliver until I get caught up I paid the 90-day past due but we're still 60 days past due
00:48:17in the
00:48:18Dickinson'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 is there anything else just a regular amount of 250
00:48:33okay pay my car insurance off I get them on payment it keeps going up yeah we can't pay it
00:48:41off right now
00:48:42but I can get you the minimum payment that's a most of the next two cleanups is going to fuel
00:48:46so we're
00:48:47going to have to kind of be snug until we can get those in there those boys are making big
00:48:54sacrifices
00:48:54to be out here and to to build this as a family we're miles from the Arctic Circle and hours
00:49:00away
00:49:01from the nearest town you know they're 20 and 22 years old most people are out with their friends doing
00:49:07fun things I know it's hard for me to be away from my wife but I'm in my 50s I
00:49:12hadn't really considered
00:49:14how difficult this really could be for them hey Fred hey Dave how you doing doing good man how are
00:49:29you hey I wanted to kind of look at your pit after his pay prospecting mission fails to find higher
00:49:36grade
00:49:37pay Dave sets his sights on the production side of Fred's operation this is all overburdened that
00:49:43we flip back to here okay there's some logistical things that I think I can help them with I took
00:49:50a
00:49:50quick look at his pit it looks pretty unorganized you know they shut down oh gosh we're out of pay
00:49:56so they
00:49:57go down and dig pay and then they're like all right we got pay let's run so I want to
00:50:02get them more efficient
00:50:04let me ask you something how do you get your pay out of there to your wash plant um so
00:50:09right now we
00:50:11ride we ride an excavator so we it's almost three times from pay to there you'd swing it to there
00:50:18swing
00:50:18it maybe four times it's four yeah probably four flips the idea originally was to push it with the
00:50:25dozer I haven't been able to build a road and run it why not right on here this is really
00:50:31soft I can
00:50:32make a road here just push this out of the way and get you a pretty decent road in here
00:50:37down into
00:50:37the cut you mean yeah to the cut oh wow I love it yeah that would be good if you
00:50:44flip pay four times
00:50:46it's a waste of fuel and it's a waste of you know sunshine if I have a dozer I think
00:50:52I could get a road
00:50:53to the wash plant that you can continually get pay from and then he's good to go so give me
00:51:00a day and I
00:51:00think I can get it done Dave's plan use a bulldozer to build a road from the wash plant to
00:51:07Fred's cut
00:51:08this will allow Fred and the boys to push pay seamlessly the 300 yards from cut to plant in
00:51:17one move eliminating the need for the excavator but Fred's D9 is still out of commission Dave's plan is
00:51:26exciting it's good I like it you know he's got a whole lot more experience than I do those are
00:51:30through brakes constantly is really the problem I think we're on day three or four I don't even
00:51:36remember right now how's it going kid we've got a leak right on this third gasket is that one we
00:51:44just
00:51:44replaced yeah wait is it leaking from here or is it leaking from here that one oh shoot oh well
00:51:51pull it
00:51:51back apart there's nothing else we can do it's important that we have this thing Dave's got a
00:51:57new plan to push pay to the plant with it but without this dozer that plan can't happen
00:52:08we're gonna do is we're gonna take the crane truck over there get these lifted up where we need them
00:52:11and
00:52:11get them in place those are still down Dave helps one transport the finished plates for the podvins
00:52:18hopper it's all hands on deck we got to get these plates down there to the pod bins we got
00:52:23to get this
00:52:38in the hopper is built originally too sharp so the hopper basically will hang a rock up and then it
00:52:45gets a big mound in there it plugs it so by doing this doesn't allow rocks to hang up in
00:52:50there it's
00:52:51gonna be awesome joining the fight is the podvins welder Casey stagno coming over you guys good coming
00:53:00down we raised it about this high and then it gives him this much more room for material to sit
00:53:13in
00:53:13here this is gonna help keep rocks off the spray bar mom thought of that protecting the spray bars that's
00:53:20awesome because it's something we didn't even think of or no better than I could imagine they
00:53:25should fix the hopper pretty much 100% job looks great man thank you you got a lot of welding
00:53:33to do
00:53:33buddy a lot of welding to do yeah
00:53:53starting all the cuts on the podvins distribution shoot it's gonna be a v-splitter we're actually gonna
00:53:58do four runs there's only two days to go before the final test runs in the race to fix two
00:54:05plants
00:54:06Juan and the crew are hot on the build of the podvins large 10-foot distribution box right now the
00:54:13way the
00:54:13plants running there's a big chance that they're losing a lot of the fine gold having more even feed
00:54:18across the whole box is gonna help that material enters the 10-foot wide sluice at one point flowing
00:54:29down the edge of the box with no place to settle gold is being lost out the end to cope
00:54:37with the extra
00:54:38material through the plant and to recover more gold one is building a distribution box with four down
00:54:46spouts spreading the flow of material across the entire width of the sluice taking on two big bills
00:54:54in the same time that we normally do one build it's hard enough but we're coming out swinging ultimately I
00:55:00know their plants gonna be better for what we're doing to it between the hopper and the distribution
00:55:05it's gonna be a whole other machine fire fire fire fire at our camp do they need help come on
00:55:26Zena I got
00:55:26the water truck in the Arctic tundra summer high winds plus dry brush creates a highly flammable
00:55:35mixture apparently there's fire they had to race off right now you know these high winds with a fire
00:55:40it's not good we don't know how big this fire is let me it's my machine we got to snuff
00:55:53this all out yes
00:55:53sir dirt on top got it
00:56:08the patch right there this patch is right there Alex we're getting ready to flare back up over here
00:56:26come on we gotta shut it off or it's gonna keep burning in the Alaska double rescue wildfire breaks
00:56:34out threatening the miners camps when the winds like this I mean if it were to get roaring there'd be
00:56:39no
00:56:39stopping it so they're gonna come with the cat and spread all this dirt on top there to shut the
00:56:44air off
00:56:45because the wind is just firing the members right back up yeah he's gonna take the dozer and push all
00:56:50this dirt
00:56:51right over top so it should smother it okay nice work dude good job this could have been catastrophic
00:57:04it's blowing straight to our camp we could have had a really bad situation so we'll throw dirt over it
00:57:10and we should suffocate it good work gentlemen go team absolutely teamwork makes the dream work you
00:57:16got to come together under pressure you got to do it you know we're a team all of us so
00:57:20it
00:57:21has to be that way or you don't make it out here you did a great job man you went
00:57:24in there with the
00:57:24excavator you're actually ripping it up getting it all put out good work well that was pretty scary
00:57:34with community help everybody jumping in helping out we got it out good job
00:57:40buddy thank you all right we can get a jump for you too getting that water pump yeah we got
00:57:44that put
00:57:44it out huh all right a little bit everybody i think oh definitely
00:57:57what's going on a little surprise from freddie just showed up really brand new table freddie came
00:58:04through sweet here's the baby wow nice could make life a little bit easier for you definitely no
00:58:11more brushing no more brushing and your gold is at this end you can look at it it's bright and
00:58:17shiny
00:58:17it's nice perfect i'm excited to see it working okay i'm clear all right good dave i like it i
00:58:27think
00:58:27it's gonna be a game changer that's for sure since this thing's very heavy i cut some uh inch and
00:58:34a
00:58:34half two inch pipe we put it on the ground we're gonna use that as rollers and we get it
00:58:38to roll in
00:58:41you happy with it here absolutely yeah i think it's a good place awesome
00:58:52bullet throttle
00:58:56after days of blood sweat and oil
00:58:59come on baby you can do it
00:59:04ryan's hard work has paid off
00:59:13that d9 is kind of a really important piece of equipment it was definitely crucial to get that
00:59:18up and running brian knocked it out of the park you know for a 20-year-old man to
00:59:21take that on and take it apart himself and put it back together it's impressive
00:59:26feeling pretty good dozers warming up
00:59:31so far no leaks
00:59:35nicely done kid
00:59:39nicely done very very pleased
00:59:41couldn't be prouder of brian pulling this thing apart and putting it back together he 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 dave begins his plan to maximize the dickinson's production so if i get in that road
01:00:02where he can push with the dozer it's way more efficient than flipping his pay
01:00:07once he builds this road and starts ramping it up it's going to be pretty easy for us to just
01:00:12push from where the pay is over to the wash plant it's going to be a whole lot faster than
01:00:17doing it with this excavator so we're happy about it
01:00:36frozen ground
01:00:38sliding
01:00:52i mean this is perma cross and i can't get up on here i just slide off
01:01:28it's his dozer
01:01:29good news and bad news okay good news brian the engine's running good
01:01:34oh good um so bad news is that ground's frozen
01:01:42and uh i did a couple slides on it oh okay and uh i just don't want to get on
01:01:48that ice and throw a track
01:01:51okay that'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
01:02:17on the pudvin mine
01:02:19casey is 11 hours into welding hopper plates
01:02:23with no end in sight
01:02:25this needs to be able to handle the rocks that are falling in
01:02:28plus the excavator touching it
01:02:31this 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
01:02:38you know through there i had to go over it 10 15 times
01:02:40there's a lot of welding
01:02:42still going to be maybe three more passes here
01:02:53i'm just trying to figure out a plan here
01:02:55um my 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 see if we can
01:03:11build a road
01:03:12around the ice maybe yeah you want me to try that
01:03:14yeah all right i think we got a plan
01:03:17the problem is in the middle of my road is a big chunk of ice with uh fred's help on
01:03:23the excavator
01:03:24i think i can maneuver around it
01:03:26uh let's do it
01:03:35dave's plan is to use an excavator to reclaim the low area beside the frozen ground using tailings and
01:03:44overburden then build the road around the ice
01:03:53oh it's very frozen salad mother nature's trying to say uh she's mine i'm going to politely disagree
01:04:13coming up
01:04:15as dave and fred battle the ice juan presses ahead with the installation of fred's new distribution box
01:04:24so we got the splitter chute all built what we're going to do we 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 lower that down a
01:04:34little
01:04:34bit alex that box isn't squared they look right on edge there if i push down on mine i might
01:04:43be able
01:04:43to get it i wonder if we can suck this in probably not so i've got a full quarter inch
01:04:48to three eighth
01:04:49gap on the top
01:04:56it's in it's just we got a big-ass gap now um terrible losing my mind
01:05:17go get me some mild steel trap from up top a couple scraps so we can cut some of these
01:05:22angles out please
01:05:25on the final day of fixes in boulder creek juan hits a snag on the dickinson's wash plant just hours
01:05:32out from the second test runs we're going to have to make some adjustment over here you know it fit
01:05:40really good but i didn't realize that that chute as it went further in it wasn't square so now we're
01:05:46going to have to make a little bit of a filler piece which is not the end of the world
01:05:49but uh we'll get
01:05:50it just takes a little longer this is not exactly how we wanted it but it's what we got to
01:05:59do to
01:05:59make it work travi can you give me more 60 10. you know something we have to do in the
01:06:06field we just
01:06:07have to adapt make a little filler plate but it's just part of it while one finishes the distribution
01:06:13shoot installed despite a few obstacles this plan is coming together fred and dave make inroads in the
01:06:22cut it's starting to come together with him flipping overburden if we get that dozer in here i think i
01:07:01it's working
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 to a lot of plants, so we can start to look up.
01:07:40Yeah, so we're looking good right now.
01:07:50It's a lot more organized.
01:07:52You got an excavator feeding, does are feeding the excavator.
01:07:57They're in business.
01:08:08All major fixes now complete at the Dickinson's.
01:08:12We're just finishing up the splitter.
01:08:14Juan turns his attention to the Podvin's larger chute.
01:08:19We're actually going to split it four ways.
01:08:21The material coming off the bottom of the trommel is going to hit this.
01:08:25It'll split twice, and 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.
01:08:49Juan races to get the splitter installed.
01:08:52Trying to do two plants at the same time, with the same amount of time, is 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.
01:09:27In 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.
01:10:00Got a nice bump to it.
01:10:02Hi, guys.
01:10:04Hello.
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.
01:10:17Let's give it a try.
01:10:18Yeah.
01:10:21You guys are cleaning up old.
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.
01:10:31That's impressive.
01:10:31So you're just really walking around in circles and adjusting instead of brushing for three,
01:10:35four days.
01:10:35Maybe an hour.
01:10:37Cool.
01:10:40I am impressed with that.
01:10:42A lot more time for Eric and Leva and everyone else to spend more time doing other things around the
01:10:48mine.
01:10:48Wow.
01:10:49It was really fun to see Daryl, Leva, 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
01:12:13we push the material in.
01:12:14As Juan wraps up the water fix.
01:12:17Come on, big boy.
01:12:18Let's go.
01:12:19Dave and Josh install the finishing touches to the shaker system.
01:12:24These are the counterweights.
01:12:26We're going to put these on to give more violent shake so that it actually throws the rock up.
01:12:35I do not want these to come off.
01:12:38Trust me.
01:12:39All right.
01:12:40Everybody's working hard now.
01:12:41We got Alex and Travis and Juan's up above.
01:12:44We've got Brian, me.
01:12:47Fred's going to set a pump.
01:12:49Juan's just about got the water jet in the back in 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.
01:13:02We're 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, but at the same time it's tough.
01:13:26And we'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.
01:13:36Fire it up.
01:13:36Fire it up.
01:13:43Fire it up.
01:13:45Fire it up.
01:13:51Fire it up.
01:13:53Fire it up.
01:13:53Fire it up.
01:13:57Fire it up.
01:13:58Fire it up.
01:13:59Fire it up.
01:14:01Fire it up.
01:14:02Fire it up.
01:14:03Fire it up.
01:14:04Fire it up.
01:14:05Fire it up.
01:14:05Fire it up.
01:14:05Fire it up.
01:14:06Fire it up.
01:14:06Fire it up.
01:14:07I like that vibration.
01:14:08I think you sped it up, plus your water gets.
01:14:11Not only that, now with that punch plate not being square,
01:14:15it's not getting hung up, plus we're smaller openings,
01:14:18they're going to add more yards per hour.
01:14:21Yeah, they're going to be rocking and rolling
01:14:22more 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.
01:14:33That distribution actually looks pretty darn good.
01:14:37With the Dickinson's second test underway,
01:14:41Juan 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.
01:14:51Chain 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.
01:15:17Put it up on the side.
01:15:19Worried about their drive system,
01:15:22the Podvins have pulled the plug on their second test run.
01:15:25We had a legit concern that with their fixes up there,
01:15:29I really think they're going to push 200 yards an hour
01:15:31of material in that drum.
01:15:32On the flip side of that, it might work too good
01:15:35for our drive system.
01:15:36So 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
01:15:46and 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
01:15:57to watch it run.
01:15:58The truth is I have to be another mine in a couple days.
01:16:01So I got to get going.
01:16:04There's always a little bit of a worry,
01:16:06even with my calculations and everything else,
01:16:08the yardage they're going to be running
01:16:09and the water flows.
01:16:10But until you actually see it run,
01:16:13sometimes 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
01:16:18is 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.
01:16:50There'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 is good.
01:17:02Pick it up.
01:17:03Pick up the pace, man.
01:17:04I would.
01:17:06We're on it.
01:17:07All right, Josh.
01:17:09See 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
01:17:21to keep the plant fed from his pay highway.
01:17:26Dozer Dave on my dozer.
01:17:28Pretty 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.
01:17:56Let'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.
01:18:24You're on some gold.
01:18:25Oh, yeah.
01:18:26Contrary to popular belief,
01:18:27there 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
01:18:33and see what we got?
01:18:34Let's do a gold way.
01:18:35Yeah, let's do it.
01:18:38Damn.
01:18:39He ran what we'd normally run
01:18:41in 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.
01:19:00It's a good 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.
01:19:09The 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.
01:19:23Well, you know, it really looks like, you know,
01:19:26we're catching a lot of that fine gold.
01:19:27But honestly, we ran a lot more material
01:19:30during 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.
01:19:35Huh?
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.
01:20:12That's over half an ounce an hour,
01:20:13which is what we're looking for right there.
01:20:15Absolutely.
01:20:16You know, if this isn't a motivator,
01:20:17I don't know what's going to be.
01:20:19You know, this should be a motivator to say,
01:20:20hey, 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.
01:20:26Well, you know, it's a shame that we weren't able
01:20:27to watch you guys' plant run.
01:20:29But when you guys get running,
01:20:31please 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.
01:20:37We'll do it.
01:20:39We don't see any reason that ain't going to
01:20:41get us screaming material through that.
01:20:43Thank you so much for everything you've done.
01:20:45Both you guys.
01:20:46Likewise, thank you.
01:20:46Appreciate it.
01:20:47Thanks for the opportunity.
01:20:49Yeah.
01:20:49Appreciate you guys.
01:20:50Yeah.
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
01:20:56working with you guys.
01:20:57You 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,
01:21:07but 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,
01:21:14but seeing this the way that it is,
01:21:17and if we can finish this season the way I think we can,
01:21:20the boys have a future here on this mine.
01:21:21We can keep going.
01:21:22And when I get tired of mining,
01:21:24I want to be able to turn the keys over to them and say,
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 the sluice box,
01:21:40I 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,
01:21:51and 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 Darrell.
01:22:07The season went good.
01:22:08We sluiced through, I don't even know how many acres,
01:22:11but we did it in a hurry.
01:22:12That wash plant's doing over 200 yards an hour,
01:22:15exactly 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.
01:22:22It'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.
01:22:29That was the best that we've ever had.
01:22:33We just got just over 500 ounces.
01:22:36That's huge.
01:22:37We're very excited for years to come
01:22:39and 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.
01:23:11You can see quite a bit of it's missing now.
01:23:21Sorry about the noise in the background.
01:23:22Brian's ready to run.
01:23:24All right.
01:23:24Thanks again, guys.
01:23:25We'll see you later.
01:23:31We'll see you later.
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