- 3 hours ago
Outback Crystal Hunters - Season 2 - Episode 05: No Shayne No Gain
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Short filmTranscript
00:04It's a bit dry at the moment.
00:06Yeah.
00:07It's good because all the grass has died off.
00:08We could see a bit more.
00:09Yeah.
00:13Look at that. Someone's made a marking on the tree there.
00:16It's that 1931.
00:18That's old, isn't it?
00:19This is looking really promising, eh?
00:21I reckon it would be good prospecting around here.
00:23If there's people been carving them in trees,
00:24it means there's something around here that must be worth looking at.
00:27Hopefully we can find out what they were doing here.
00:34So what we're out here looking for is quartz.
00:37We're probably around 5km away from the car right now.
00:41There's been times that we've walked all day.
00:46Look at that.
00:48Yeah, that's full of quartz,
00:51but we're after the real clear sort of stuff, you know, so...
00:54I reckon, though, I reckon further up.
01:00Oh, snake!
01:01Snake, snake, snake, snake!
01:02Ah!
01:03Ah!
01:04Ah!
01:08Ah!
01:09Ah!
01:12Ah!
01:12Ah!
01:13Ah!
01:16Ah!
01:16Ah!
01:17Ah!
01:18Ah!
01:21Ah!
01:22Ah!
01:24Ah!
01:27Ah!
01:27Ah!
01:28Ah!
01:30Ah!
01:32Ah!
01:32Ah!
01:32Ah!
01:34Ah!
01:34copperhead but a lot of snakes all look the same you treat them all as venomous all dangerous the
01:40inland tauopansia the most venomous snake in the world yeah if you get bitten one of them it's
01:45definitely game over the inhospitable terrain of northwest queensland absolute beautiful view
01:56isn't it neil wilkinson and his father neil senior have traveled 1 000 kilometers southwest
02:02from the cattle station they manage careful offense on the hunt for old timers clear quartz diggings
02:10we've got a seasoned target of 10 grand most of that is mostly the regos insurances for the caravan
02:17and carb and we also got schooling for my young fella good morning we we actually have to pay
02:23for internet and we have to pay for the schooling tell us what's happening to your place it costs us
02:29fair bit to actually come out here with the caravan just in fuel alone it's cost a thousand dollars
02:33so it has taken a bit of a toll on the on the bank but hopefully we can recoup that
02:39with the crystals
02:40that we find i mean look at that look at that that's that's diggings hey oh look at this dad
02:46it's a bloody massive hole here oh wow oh holy they've done some damage here yeah it looks like
02:54it's all been hand dug hey you wouldn't do that for nothing you know so they must have been finding
02:58something in that hole we'll let you go down there and i i'll wait up top let us know what
03:03you see
03:07just be careful oh geez there's quartz in the wall here right like just in top of the ceiling here
03:13yeah that's what we come here for and it looks like we're going to be on the money hope we
03:18need it
03:19so i'm just i'm just stoked it's bloody awesome and just these crystals here just at the entrance
03:24here is bloody unreal that's a big quartz crystal and it's still going oh that's awesome look at that
03:34oh it's it's about to come out oh look at that holy that's incredible so what are you fine now
03:42i've got a nice big crystal point here have a check of this out are you ready catch it don't
03:49break it
03:50oh have a look at that oh yeah and clean too yeah it's nice
03:59prized by collectors for its clarity clear quartz is free of the trace elements or radiation
04:05that color other variations of the crystal able to vibrate at a precise frequency
04:13it is a vital component in timekeeping and signal transmission equipment
04:19we'll start excavating this part out here and i'll go back get the buckets
04:23all right you look like you'd be fairly safe here by yourself yeah yeah this is this
04:26yeah definitely better than in there for sure i'll be back after right yeah too easy be safe yep i'll
04:32be
04:32here we don't have the right gear at the moment we didn't bring much with us being that we were
04:37scouting around so i've got dad running down to the car it's probably around two to three k's away
04:55oh yeah there's there's a nice crystal cluster here it might be all right
04:59uh i might get try get that out buddy it's getting hot oh
05:09yep it's coming out now
05:16oh it's got a few nice good points on it i'm back ah good i'll give this to you dad
05:25how you feeling down here it's bloody hot hey that sun's beaming on me down here and there's no
05:31wind no breeze yeah just be careful don't you go over get too much heat on you but i gotta
05:36keep going
05:36i got it we we need the crystals we we can't stop yeah look i reckon you come out for
05:44a while
05:44i'll have a spell hey come up we'll cool you down oh not good come up just give me a
05:50sec i'm getting dizzy
05:56oh
05:58oh
06:02oh
06:03oh
06:06oh
06:25Ah, right to send the bucket up, mate?
06:27Yeah, mate.
06:28Send him up.
06:29Rightio.
06:30Sending her up now.
06:33We'll process this one, and hopefully there's some good stone in it.
06:36It'll be a good indicator to tell us whether we're heading in the right direction.
06:42We've been moving a lot of dirt lately.
06:44We haven't been finding a lot of sapphire.
06:46We have to find stone, otherwise we're not going to make our quota.
06:51There's a lot of dirt between sapphires, as they say out here, but at the moment we're
06:57feeling it, you know?
07:00Hopefully we have some stones.
07:03Well, it's going to determine what we're doing next anyway.
07:06Yeah.
07:07Come on.
07:10Oh!
07:11Fuck the bugger.
07:12Righto.
07:12Check it out.
07:14Spreading me out a bit.
07:17Not looking very good, boys, eh?
07:18Nah, man.
07:20Not at all.
07:22Yeah.
07:22Nothing much here, boys.
07:24You can see.
07:25You can see.
07:25The popper's been cleaned out.
07:27We've got a big target to hit, so I think we should get the old machine going.
07:30Drill a hole down here.
07:32The neighbours have showed me around the back of their claims and stuff, and I had a good
07:35look.
07:35There's a good wash down there.
07:36Hell yeah.
07:36If we've got two mines going, we've got a big chance of hitting our sapphires.
07:41Ruby Vale.
07:41The heart of sapphire country in the Queensland Central Highlands.
07:46And base of operations for Tyson Francis and brothers Brad and Shane Herring.
07:52So this is it, boys.
07:54This is the hole.
07:57With this machine, we can move a lot more dirt.
08:00All right, so what work needs to be done to get it going?
08:03Does it even go?
08:04What we need to do is the wiring here on this motor.
08:07I'm on that.
08:08A little of the wiring.
08:09A couple of bolts in the mounts.
08:11That wiring's faded out on that.
08:13We need that fixed as well.
08:14Oh, yeah, she's old.
08:15Once we get that done, then we can fix up the bullhorns.
08:18That'll need a spring too, won't it?
08:20Yeah, we'll have to weld a spring in there and a counterweight on here just to help the
08:23spring.
08:25Spring-loaded bullhorns send the empty bucket back down the mineshaft.
08:30The three motors needing repair return the bucket to the surface, turn the trommel,
08:35and run the conveyor belt.
08:39It's a lot of work, man.
08:40Are you sure you're going to be stones over there?
08:43I'm pretty confident.
08:45Doubles our chances, mate.
08:46We've got a big target to hit, so we've got to give it a go.
08:49It's risky, but worth it.
08:51Yep.
08:52Gem-grade cut sapphires are worth on average $1,000 a carat.
08:58Found in Rubyvale, one of the largest black sapphires in the world, the Black Star of
09:04Queensland, was originally used as a doorstop.
09:08When discovered to be a sapphire, it was crafted into a pendant worth an estimated $100
09:14million.
09:16It's going to be a bit of an outlay of the money from the season target, but without
09:20the risk, you can't get reward.
09:22Hey, Mum!
09:23Hey!
09:24How are you?
09:24Good to see you, Mum.
09:25Yeah, you too.
09:26My Mum and my brother, we're really close.
09:28Sit down!
09:29We grew up country boys, family orientated, and Mum's the keystone of that.
09:34And look, you know, our goals are that Mum can actually retire.
09:38Yeah.
09:38You heading back to work then?
09:39Yeah.
09:40Can we get back on the road?
09:41Hopefully not for much longer.
09:43Oh.
09:43One day we can have enough money that you can retire and come and stay out here with us.
09:47I was like, oh, that would be great.
09:52It's going to need a grinder.
09:54A bit old, that one.
09:56As Brad and Shane begin repairs on the 50-year-old processing plant, Tyson needs to organise a
10:02drill to dig the access shaft for the new mine.
10:05Hey, mate, how you going?
10:06Um, just get a price on that hole you can drill for us tomorrow.
10:11How much?
10:14Yeah, alright.
10:15Okay.
10:16Thanks, mate.
10:17Alright.
10:20Hey, boys.
10:21Yup.
10:22$1,600 for a 30-foot hole.
10:24Jesus.
10:25And if it's any deeper, we have to shell out, it could be double.
10:28Jesus.
10:28Yeah, so, that's it.
10:30That's what it costs us.
10:31I know.
10:32Fair enough.
10:33Yeah.
10:33Alright, I'll let you get back to it.
10:37I'm just finishing off the power box, putting the last connectors on.
10:41So, and look at that.
10:45Like I bought one.
10:46Hey, that's awesome.
10:48So, let's test it out, eh?
10:51We're going to start with the conveyor motor.
10:55So, we'll give that a go.
10:56Let's see what happens.
10:58Turn this on down here for the whole power box.
11:02And...
11:02Oop.
11:03That's not good.
11:04What's going on over here, mate?
11:07Yes, there's...
11:07The power box is tripping out their power, not the motors, yeah.
11:10Well, we've got the drill rig turned up very shortly.
11:12We need this done, mate.
11:13Yeah, I'll get into it, mate.
11:14Sorry about that.
11:14Alright.
11:17I've got to get in and get it done, because we've got the drill rig on the way.
11:20And this is going to hold up the show, which is going to cost us money,
11:23and it's going to put us behind, and it's going to be all my fault.
11:42Oh, on the map here, it looks like we're coming to the end of the track up just up around
11:46the corner.
11:47Yeah, it doesn't look like too many tracks off this one.
11:49No.
11:50We're still not too close to that other peridot spot.
11:54We get as close as we can to it, with the car.
11:57It looks pretty treacherous, and there's a reason people don't drive off into a long ground spot.
12:02Yep, this is the end of the track, Frankie.
12:04Yeah, alright, I'll let you out here then.
12:06Okay.
12:12On this side of the tree.
12:16I'm just trying to guide Frankie in the safest direction through the long grass.
12:20There's a lot of, you know, sticks up in the grass.
12:22We don't want to pop any tyres, so come on.
12:25Just watch that there, Frankie.
12:27Little hole there.
12:38Stop.
12:41Looks like it.
12:44This is as far as we're going to take the ute in.
12:46It's getting a bit too dangerous to drive through the long grass, so we're just going to try and find
12:50the source of the peridot.
12:54Remote north-west Queensland.
12:56A region dominated by tropical savannah.
13:00Its long grasses concealing deposits of the crystal peridot.
13:04So the peridot is formed deep within the earth, and it's brought up from the mantle from volcanic activity.
13:10So there's a volcanic plug on the field up here that's brought up all the peridot and just been deposited
13:16all over the field.
13:27Look at that.
13:28Oh, that's a beauty.
13:30That's a good little specimen, that one.
13:32Got a bit of the basalt host rock, and you can see some of the peridot within the host rock
13:37still.
13:39There you go.
13:39That peridot's just popped out.
13:41And we'll be looking for these sort of stones, and then around it, hopefully some peridot gems that have weathered
13:47out.
13:47Absolutely.
13:48It's actually everywhere, yeah.
13:49It's come out of a volcano, so a lot of it has been fractured due to the heat.
13:54Hopefully we come across some nice clear stones that will be facetable.
13:59Peridot was first mined over 4,000 years ago by the ancient Egyptians, and has even been found in comet
14:07dust, meteorites, and on the moon.
14:10Today, cut and faceted peridot can be worth up to $700 a carat.
14:17I might just have a bit of a look over this area and see if we can locate the best
14:20spot in the area and go from there.
14:25But this is definitely where it's at.
14:28Crystals are more important than ever now, because we've started a little crystal business.
14:32The crystal business is my main income.
14:34I ended up quitting my nine to five a few years ago to focus on the crystals now, and I've
14:39got to give it my all, get out here and find some more crystals to be able to keep that
14:42stock up within our business and keep it rolling.
14:50Oh, hello.
14:55Looks like someone's beat us to it.
14:59Oh, this area's been absolutely hammered in here.
15:02This is not a very good sight to see.
15:04It looks like they've been digging here for quite a while, so...
15:09Hey, uh...
15:10Better come and have a look at this. I don't think we're going to find anything here.
15:15Oh, my God.
15:19I was hoping that no one had been here before.
15:23Oh, God.
15:26Everywhere here. Oh, my God.
15:27Everywhere, yeah, it's been smashed here.
15:29What do you think we do?
15:31I'm actually not too sure. It's actually that I took the wind out of this one.
15:43Yeah, I'm just going to have to troubleshoot and find out.
15:46So...
15:48That's working.
15:50So it's working now.
15:51We're having a few problems over there with it wiring.
15:54It's definitely holding us up on getting it ready, and, you know, that could change our season if we can't
16:00get it running properly.
16:01Screwdriver?
16:02The Ruby Vale boys are losing precious digging time repairing a 50-year-old sapphire processing plant.
16:09Failed to get it operational, and they'll waste thousands in drilling and set-up costs.
16:14Fire this one up.
16:16Test another motor as well.
16:18Oh, there it goes.
16:19She tripped?
16:19She tripped.
16:21So I reckon it's actually this motor over here, because I had them both plugged in earlier when we first
16:27fired it up and it was having the issues.
16:29Yeah, it's used an old motor, and it's not going to be easy to fix, unless it's just the wiring.
16:33We'll check it out.
16:35Here comes the drill rig.
16:37Hey, mate.
16:39Right, the hole's down the back over here.
16:41I'm pretty sure it's going to be this little cable here that goes through the capacitor.
16:45It's exposed.
16:46I thought I'd get away with it, but obviously we'll have to fix up the wires.
16:51If that doesn't go, then we'll be a little bit behind.
16:56Close enough.
16:57Good enough there.
17:02There it comes.
17:03There you go.
17:04Look how old it is.
17:05Look at this.
17:06It just crumbles apart.
17:08Hopefully this will be enough to get the motor up and running.
17:11If I can spread these two wires apart enough, because it's only got a couple of millimetres in there to
17:17keep them spread apart.
17:20There you go, Shano.
17:21What's happening with the power, mate?
17:22It turns out it was the capacitor.
17:24Yep.
17:24There was two wires that were completely bare.
17:26Yeah, right.
17:27And so they were shortened out.
17:28It all sounds like an easy fix anyway.
17:30We'll get us on the roads.
17:31Easy fix?
17:32No.
17:33No?
17:33Not at all.
17:34I've re-taped up them.
17:35If this doesn't work, I'll have to start thinking about what we can do.
17:45Plug them in.
17:46Cool.
17:48Here we go.
17:50A moment of truth.
17:56That's no good.
17:57No good at all.
17:59Just turn it on and it just keeps tripping the switch.
18:02That means it's the actual motor itself.
18:15Hey, mate.
18:16We've got a bit of bad news, man.
18:17Come on.
18:18That, um...
18:19Oh.
18:20Watch out.
18:23That motor's buggered.
18:24Buggered, is it?
18:25It's not turning on.
18:29Um, we haven't got one at all.
18:31To get one out of you will take over a week.
18:34Yeah.
18:38I've got a motor at my joint.
18:40I'm going to go and see if that will fit.
18:42Righto.
18:43No dramas.
18:43All right, mate.
18:51This looks like floor to me.
18:54Yeah, that's decomposed granite.
18:56All right, that's the bottom.
18:57We'll have a look.
18:59I'll, um...
18:59I'll just get him to spin it.
19:04What's your deck?
19:0623 feet.
19:0723 feet?
19:09Yeah.
19:09Great.
19:10It'll work out all right for me.
19:13Beautiful.
19:14I'm happy with that.
19:17Next, we'll be bringing the machine over.
19:19And then we'll, um, get down there and build it out.
19:22And start chasing where the stone are.
19:27So I'm just up here welding in the spring to run the bucket.
19:31It dumps the load.
19:32And then the spring is to help the motor actually bring the bucket back up and over and back
19:38down the shaft.
19:49I've got a motor here from my house, so we'll see if that fits.
19:53Um, all we have to do is put on a little plug and we're ready to go.
20:02Righto.
20:03Well, I'm just going to start rigging up this motor and then we're back in business.
20:07And then we'll, then we'll be good.
20:09And we can start, uh, move it all over, connect it up, and hopefully...
20:13Oh, fire!
20:14Fire!
20:15Yeah, yeah, yeah.
20:16Get it in!
20:16Get that fire!
20:17I've got it, bro.
20:19Someone kill that tower!
20:20Hurry up!
20:28Hey, Luke!
20:29Come on, hop up now.
20:30It's almost school time.
20:32You've got to get on your computer.
20:33Quick.
20:34It's almost school.
20:37Oh, I'm feeling a lot better.
20:38Uh, I'm, I'm well rested.
20:40I've actually, I've drank a lot of water, so I'm a bit more hydrated today.
20:44It was just lucky for me.
20:46I had dad there, you know, a bit of water and that to get me out of that hole.
20:49Otherwise, I think I would've, I would've went downhill pretty quickly.
20:52Alright, honey.
20:53Alright, bye.
20:54Bye.
20:56Alright.
20:57Be good for mum.
20:58Catches after, eh?
21:00I worry all the time that something's gonna happen, go wrong, and it's, it's definitely
21:05scary.
21:06But, I'm just glad he's not up there by himself, and he's with his dad.
21:12I mean, in that hole beside us, down in that, that little bit of a tunnel there, you can
21:17actually see there's, there's nice sized clusters in there, you know, they're not being damaged
21:21at all.
21:22So, I'm wondering if we should get in there and try and get that cluster out.
21:26Yeah, but what about the roof?
21:27You said it's not pie and loose.
21:28We, we come all this way.
21:30We've got to risk it for the biscuit, eh?
21:31I mean, we've got to get into it.
21:32We've got to get these crystals.
21:33We've got to get some money up.
21:36In sweltering 35 degree temperatures, Neil Wilkinson and Father Neil Senior have discovered
21:43an abandoned clear quartz mine they hope will pay off the family's mounting bills.
21:52I've got this cluster, all dug around the back of it.
21:55I'll get dad to come down and actually help me while I hold it, because all these crystal
22:00points, I don't want hitting the rocks down here, because they'll break them off and it'll
22:03be worse than nothing.
22:08Whoo, I'm getting nervous.
22:10I can't wait to see this comes out.
22:11Righto.
22:13Okay, your shorts open here?
22:14Yeah, yeah, we're good.
22:15All right.
22:16What I'll get you to do is get in here with the hammer and chisel and actually get in the
22:20top here and wedge it.
22:21Okay, okay.
22:22Right in here.
22:23Yep, right in there.
22:24And, um.
22:25Okay.
22:27All right, right.
22:28Keep going.
22:28Yep.
22:29Bloody nervous.
22:31Yep.
22:33Oh, oh, oh.
22:34Just go a bit slower.
22:35A bit slower.
22:36All right.
22:36Ready?
22:37Yeah, just go slow.
22:40Oh, mate, I've got this under here.
22:42Okay, steady.
22:43Very steady.
22:43Oh.
22:44Oh, here it comes.
22:47Come on.
22:48Come on.
22:48No.
22:49No.
22:49No.
22:50No.
22:51No.
22:52No.
22:52It will come out in pieces.
22:56That would have been an awesome piece if it come out as one cluster.
22:59No, look at that.
23:00I feel devastated, really.
23:02We were hoping this is going to be the one, but nah.
23:06I mean, what are we going to do now?
23:09We'll keep going.
23:10I mean, we keep going, but we don't have time.
23:11We've got to go.
23:12We've got to get back.
23:13I've got... I've got work to do, I've got...
23:19This is part of the big cluster that fell apart on us, unfortunately.
23:23Still saleable, but not as good money as what we could have got.
23:26This is our last day, unfortunately,
23:28and we've only got to get some more
23:30because this here ain't going to pay the bills.
23:34Back in.
23:35That all.
23:37Righto.
23:38Well, I might start excavating this corner out, eh?
23:43Oh!
23:47It's a big job.
23:48There's a lot of crystal in here.
23:50I mean, there's beautiful crystal everywhere.
23:51We're just trying to get around.
23:53It's just so tightly packed.
23:55Yeah, it makes it very difficult.
24:03I've broken the piece out here.
24:04OK, see how this comes out?
24:06Oh, well, half coming out.
24:10Yeah, it's got some nice pieces, but it's not good.
24:12It's got one broken one on the back end.
24:14This one is chipped.
24:16It's because I'm going hell for leather in there, so...
24:18At this point, we've got no time,
24:20so that there looks actually not too bad.
24:23If it comes out in pieces, it's probably not going to be a bad thing.
24:27It's a bugger.
24:31I mean, we do have a lot of singles, because there's a lot of singles,
24:34and we've got a fair few clusters, you know.
24:36We've got a lot of rocks to take down the hill today,
24:38so I'm sort of worried on how much weight's going to be
24:43trying to pack down the hill.
24:44Yeah, well, I'll take some loads down,
24:47because this here's beaten me.
24:48There's some really nice rocks there, but I just can't...
24:50Yeah, I mean...
24:50I'm taking too long.
24:53I'm absolutely knackered.
24:57It's a shame, but, yeah, well, that's what it is.
25:04There we go.
25:05Ooh, that's going to be easy 30, 20 kilos.
25:11I'll catch you after, right? I'll be back shortly.
25:14Righto, be safe.
25:51I don't know what we're going to do now.
25:53I'm going to keep going, looking for another spot.
25:56Don't have me hopes up after seeing this.
26:03I'm feeling a bit disheartened.
26:05I was really hoping it'd be new ground up here,
26:08but, yeah, it's just not our luck today.
26:12Hopefully, if we keep heading up the hill,
26:13we can find some nice big chunks of peridot.
26:18In remote north-west Queensland,
26:21Frankie Anthony and Ebrony Rawlins
26:24have had their isolated peridot dig site...
26:27Been digging all through here.
26:28Got it, Y-minus.
26:33All right, getting very rocky.
26:35Watch your step.
26:37Holy s***.
26:38OK, very rocky.
26:41Eyes on the ground.
26:48Couple little pieces here, Frankie.
26:51Nice.
26:52They're a bit fractured,
26:54but that's a good sign that
26:57we're getting closer to the source.
26:59Yeah, there's definitely a lot of good indicators around the place.
27:03This is one of the challenges right here.
27:05That's a little peridot there.
27:07It just looks like a brown rock.
27:10They don't even look green at all.
27:11It's got the ironstone coating on it,
27:13but the only way to sort of tell
27:15is it looks like broken glass.
27:17Like, it's got all the angular edges on it.
27:22It's another one.
27:23Unfortunately, that's probably not what we're here for.
27:26We're after some kingstones today.
27:35Not really seeing a lot at the moment.
27:38Oh, there's a little bit of...
27:40...herodots here.
27:44Which is a good sign.
27:46Oh, there you go.
27:47Look at that piece!
27:49Oh!
27:51That's beautiful.
27:52That was just sitting on the rock here.
27:57Oh, my God.
27:58See that?
27:58I just found another one.
27:59Oh, my God.
28:00It's beautiful.
28:01Looking really promising here.
28:03Oh, there's another one there.
28:05Wow.
28:08Oh, just in this spot.
28:11Right up to the sun.
28:13Yup, there's some colour.
28:14Oh.
28:17Hey, Frankie.
28:18You got something?
28:22First ten minutes in this spot.
28:25Look what I found.
28:27Oh, Ebbsy, look at that.
28:33Wow.
28:35That might be a cutter for sure.
28:38I'm starting to lose a bit of wind there,
28:39thinking we weren't going to find anything.
28:40Look at that.
28:41We needed to find a spot.
28:42Looks like you found it.
28:44Let's go on.
28:45Let's get the sims out.
28:46This is the spot.
28:46Woo!
29:02That was maybe something,
29:03but that's a better start than before.
29:13All right.
29:14Oh, first one.
29:16There we go.
29:17Oh, it's a bit...
29:18It's not very good, but...
29:20It's still a parrot, eh?
29:23Oh, yeah.
29:23No, here we go.
29:25Two more.
29:28What'd you find?
29:30Ooh.
29:31Oh.
29:31Oh, beautiful.
29:33Oh, hey, here's another one.
29:34It's pretty fractured, but the colour's there.
29:36And look at this one I just found.
29:39Holy.
29:40That's jammy.
29:42That's a monster, Eb.
29:44I just picked that up on the way.
29:46Probably like a good $400 stone there.
29:49Awesome, Frankie!
29:51We're just going to keep working until the sun sets.
29:53Head back to camp and polish them up.
29:56There's another one.
29:57Oh, my God.
29:59There's a nice handful there.
30:08Get in there!
30:10Can someone...
30:15You got him?
30:16Oh, yes.
30:18Whew.
30:18Well, there we go.
30:23Oh, a bit of a fire.
30:24A fire extinguisher.
30:26She's a little bit empty.
30:28Just the slag dropping down.
30:30Just lit all the grass on fire.
30:32Could have caught the whole thing on fire,
30:34just because of all the grease underneath the actual truck.
30:37Yeah, it all stuck up the top,
30:38and, yeah, it could have been a lot worse.
30:43Brothers Brad and Shane
30:45have finally got their sapphire processing plant operational,
30:49but now need to align it above the freshly drilled shaft
30:52of their new mine.
30:58Yeah, well, look, we've got a couple of flat tyres,
31:01and also no braking system.
31:03You know?
31:04We're hoping it'll all go smoothly,
31:05but you just never know.
31:08I'll make sure I steer it into position.
31:12Brad will come round and hook up to the front of the truck,
31:14and you'll just pull it all up past the shaft.
31:20This tractor on the back here will just hold onto it anyway.
31:23Not sure how well it'll actually steer
31:24after sitting here for so many years.
31:26Let's do it.
31:28Righty-ho, I'm ready.
31:34Just about to take attention.
31:43Slow down here Brad.
31:45Hard right Shane, hard right.
31:47You're going to take the post out.
31:48Slow down Brad.
31:50Look at the width of your truck, Jano.
31:52Ladder to the right.
31:53Look at your back left-hand wheel.
31:54Yeah, yeah.
31:55Turn right Shane.
31:58That's all right.
31:59No worries.
32:00Now go left, hard left.
32:01Turn into the left.
32:02Now straight from there.
32:03Yep.
32:04Yep, like that.
32:06That's it, we're clear here boys.
32:10Hold it up, hold there.
32:11Is that it boys?
32:12That's close man.
32:13Woo!
32:17Buddy stagged.
32:18There she is.
32:19She's in.
32:20Awesome.
32:20I can see the sapphires now man.
32:22I can see the sapphires now.
32:26Processing plant in position,
32:28Tyson and Brad need to add the water recycle tanks
32:31and silt traps to make it operational.
32:35Shane must return to their primary mine
32:38to hunt for sapphires
32:39in the hope he can recoup the costs
32:41of the new mine set up.
32:44Tyson's said it's up to me
32:46to sort of decide where I'm going to dig.
32:48So the pressure's on to find some sapphires.
32:51The wash level does continue up into the roof
32:53and it's got some really good colour.
32:56So look, there's your green, your red ochre
32:59and yellow ironstone,
33:01which is all your indicators of sapphires.
33:04So I think I might work my way along the roof
33:07and give us a bit more clearance.
33:09Drop it down, run a few barrows.
33:21Righto braddo.
33:22I'll seal all this up mate
33:23and put the pipes through
33:24and hopefully it holds the water for us
33:26and we'll fire it all up.
33:27We're ready to roll.
33:27Staying close now man.
33:30Hopefully Shane went well downstairs
33:31until we get some nice wash with some pay dirt in it.
33:35We're going to need it
33:36because it's been costing a lot of money.
33:38So I'll send it up.
33:40I haven't seen any sapphires poking out of the wall
33:43or in any of the material that I've sent up
33:46as I've been doing it.
33:47So I'm just praying that it's all up there in the hopper.
34:03I've just sorted out a little pile.
34:05This would be our first lot of peridot to go into the tumbler.
34:09The tumbler will help us to polish off the sharp edges of the stone
34:13and it'll help to get rid of that iron stain on the peridot
34:16and, yeah, unveil some of the colour that's underneath.
34:20So first things first,
34:22we'll pop the peridot into the tumbler.
34:25Put this lot of ceramic balls in there.
34:30As they grind against the peridot,
34:32it just makes the process happen a lot quicker.
34:44We'll set it to just one day.
34:47We'll leave it overnight.
34:48Let it start tumbling.
34:50I guess we'll see what we have when it's finished.
34:53Come on.
35:00The tumbler's been on overnight,
35:02so I'm hoping that they're a little bit polished off
35:05so we can see some of the colour.
35:07All right.
35:11Oh, look at it already.
35:15Wow.
35:19Wow.
35:20Holy eggs, that's beautiful.
35:23They came out awesome.
35:25Wow, I'm actually blowing away.
35:26I didn't realise there was that much nice stuff in there.
35:30I was actually a bit disheartened.
35:31I was thinking, oh, we didn't get that much, you know,
35:33it's just all brown rocks,
35:34but this is actually next level.
35:36What do you reckon we weigh these up
35:38and see what we've got here?
35:39Yeah, there's only really small ones left in here.
35:43Let's see what we got.
35:45First batch.
35:51913 carats right there.
35:53That's awesome.
35:54What would they be roughly?
35:55We'll call it about $8 in the rough.
35:58$8 per carat?
35:58$8 a carat in the rough, yep.
36:00$8 per carat.
36:01We've got 914 carats just there times eight.
36:06Oh, my God.
36:07What is it?
36:08That's over $7,000.
36:10Yooo!
36:10Well done, Edzie.
36:12And we've still got all this.
36:14Oh, my God.
36:15What sort of rough price would you put on those?
36:18It's tough to say, but, yeah,
36:20it'd be definitely on par with what we've got there for sure.
36:24So that would easily be, what, $14,000 or so?
36:27Yeah.
36:28I'm bringing it.
36:29Woo-hoo!
36:31You know, something's been hiding the ground for 60 million years
36:34and you finally dig it out and it reveals its true beauty.
36:39Absolutely amazing.
36:40There's nothing really quite like it.
36:42Well, what do you reckon?
36:43We go and pack up camp and get going on to the next spot?
36:47Sounds good.
36:55All right.
36:57Fingers crossed.
36:59I'm hoping to see some really good sapphires in here.
37:02You know, we've spent a lot of money,
37:04so hopefully we've got something in there worth yahooing about.
37:13All right.
37:15Awesome.
37:16Let's find some stone.
37:20Some quartz.
37:24Oh, look.
37:25This is looking all right.
37:26Here we are.
37:27We've got a nice one here.
37:28Looks all right.
37:29It's a good size.
37:30Oh, it looks nice.
37:32Geez, I hope that's clear.
37:33All right.
37:34I'll keep looking.
37:37Wee.
37:38Yes.
37:38That's more like it.
37:40Yeah, you're talking money.
37:41Look at that.
37:43Let's pray that's not a bomb.
37:49Righto, brado.
37:49That's it, eh?
37:50She looks done.
37:51Yeah, man.
37:51Well done, eh?
37:52Well done.
37:53I wonder how Shano went.
37:54Yeah, look.
37:54Well, how'd you go, boys?
37:55Here's the man of the moment.
37:56How'd you go?
37:57How'd you go?
37:58That's the main thing.
37:58Well, I don't think I'll disappoint.
38:01Here we are.
38:02Yeah, righto.
38:02That's what we got.
38:03Check it out.
38:05Oh, nice.
38:06Some nice stones there.
38:06I think we've got a few good ones in there.
38:07Righto, let's have a look, eh, and weigh them up.
38:09Yeah.
38:09Torch and all.
38:10Sure, Torch and all.
38:11Well done.
38:12He's excited.
38:13He looks happy.
38:14Yeah.
38:17That looks like a cutter.
38:18Look at that.
38:20Whoa!
38:20Yeah.
38:21Oh, man.
38:23Yeah, it's a nice stone.
38:24Party.
38:25Beautiful stone.
38:27Well done.
38:27Well done.
38:28Saved the week, mate.
38:29Yeah?
38:30Look at that.
38:30It's another one too.
38:31Wow.
38:32Crystal clear inside that.
38:33It was definitely worth me going down and letting put in a day downstairs.
38:38Man.
38:38Oh, look at that.
38:39Another river.
38:40Well done, Shona.
38:42Look at the colour of that, eh?
38:42Look at that.
38:44Hey, how good is that?
38:45Let's just get the sally on those stones.
38:46Look at this.
38:47Yeah.
38:48Is that...
38:49Mate, that's alright.
38:50Man.
38:51Total is...
38:5258 carats of cutters.
38:54What's that worth, isn't it?
38:55So what are we looking at?
38:58Um...
38:58I'd say around about 10 grand when they're cut.
39:00Yeah!
39:01Yeah!
39:02Woo!
39:03Yeah.
39:04It's covered everything, hasn't it?
39:05You're awesome, mate.
39:06Come here.
39:06That's awesome.
39:07Well done.
39:07Well done, bro.
39:09Well done, Shona.
39:11Cheers.
39:12Well done.
39:13So, how'd you guys go?
39:15Shall we, mate?
39:15Fire up, big fella.
39:17Alright, let's see.
39:18Have a look at this.
39:21We've got the trommel.
39:24We've got the trommel.
39:24Yeah!
39:26Well done.
39:27We have the conveyor.
39:29It's going.
39:30It's going.
39:31It's going.
39:31It's going.
39:31We have the up and over.
39:34Yeah!
39:34Woo!
39:35Well done.
39:36Woo!
39:36Well done.
39:37Yeah!
39:37Well done.
39:38Well done.
39:38Nice work, eh?
39:41Well done.
39:42Now we're going to have two mines going.
39:43Yep.
39:44Next week we get down there and dig them out.
39:46Yeah!
39:46It was all worth it, boys.
39:48Shona held his weight in gold today, so it was good.
39:50We're on fire, mate.
39:51We're on target.
39:51But when a plan comes together, eh?
39:53Let's keep it going.
39:55Let's just smash our quota next week.
39:56Right on.
40:09Holy crap.
40:13Holy crap.
40:16Lucky Dad wasn't down there, eh?
40:19I mean, you can see it wasn't a cave-in.
40:21It was just that loose dirt that was up top there that's come down.
40:24But it's still pretty scary, eh?
40:26I'm going to tell Dad when he gets back, it's game over for us, you know?
40:29We're going to call it.
40:36Oh, you're back.
40:38Yeah.
40:38Hey, you're not going to believe it.
40:40You must have a horseshoe up your ass because this dirt come down probably 10,
40:4415 minutes after you left and just went boof on the ground.
40:48You're kidding.
40:49There's a couple of rocks down, eh?
40:50Yeah, probably would have killed you.
40:51It was just, it was a bit scary for me being that old.
40:54I think it was the aim of the crystals telling me I'd get to go.
40:57I was just not winning there.
40:58Oh, no.
40:58Must be the power of the crystals.
41:00Must be.
41:02Neil and his father are all out of time on a clear quartz mining expedition.
41:08The spoils of their dig are vital for paying off crippling cost of living expenses.
41:16Phew.
41:17Yeah.
41:20Oh, that's a lot of rocks.
41:23Happy, happy, easy 40 kilos or maybe 50 in that bag.
41:26I mean, without a big cluster, there's no guarantee we're going to make our season target.
41:32Oh, we had a good go at it though.
41:34So, yeah, let's get back to camp and see what sort of rocks we got.
41:52Ah, that's cold.
41:55Refreshing or what?
41:57Oh, yeah, very refreshing.
42:00Bloody hell.
42:04We're getting through the crystals.
42:06There is some good ones there.
42:08So, yeah, we did come here hoping to get around two and a half green.
42:13So, yeah, I hope for the best.
42:17Oh, so what do you think?
42:19It's looking good, eh?
42:20A lot better than I expected.
42:21Yeah, no, that's good.
42:26Hey, honey, could you calculate this for me?
42:28Just so we can get a rough idea on this table here.
42:30Yeah.
42:30I mean, you're looking at $300 for something like that.
42:33I mean, you've got $200 for that.
42:35And then you've got $150 for something like that.
42:37So, what's that add up to?
42:40$650, babe.
42:40So, $650, I mean, that's just for three of them, see?
42:43Yeah.
42:43I mean, on this table, I could say, I mean, you're looking around $1800 just for this table
42:49alone.
42:49Yeah, that's cool.
42:50I mean, what do you think on the singles side of things?
42:52Well, you know, you've got big things like this thing.
42:54I mean, that's $100 all day.
42:56That's right, yeah.
42:56That's a huge chunker.
42:57If you go through all these, I mean, you'd have, what do you reckon?
43:01How much do you reckon all that tables worth?
43:02On this table here, I reckon about a grand.
43:03It's worth easy.
43:04$1,000 and $1800, that's $2,800.
43:06$2,800.
43:07Yeah.
43:08And you're forgetting, we've got other stuff on the ground here.
43:10That's exactly right.
43:11I reckon, you know, easy $3,000 all up.
43:13$3,000.
43:14That's brilliant.
43:15Bloody great, eh?
43:17Yes, that's cool.
43:18Done it, mate.
43:19Congratulations, Monica.
43:21I'm absolutely relieved on how much we can get for these crystals.
43:25We've got a lot of bills coming up.
43:26It cost us $1,000 to come out here.
43:28So we're far from actually, like, resting.
43:31We've got to keep getting into it and keep getting more crystals.
43:34We got it, boy.
43:35Woo!
43:37Woo!
43:37Woo!
43:39Woo!
43:39Woo!
43:40Woo!
43:41Woo!
43:43Woo!
43:44Woo!
43:49Woo!
43:50Woo!
43:51Woo!
43:52Woo!
43:54Woo!
43:56Woo!
43:56Woo!
43:56Woo!
43:58Woo!
43:59Woo!
44:00Woo!
44:01Woo!
44:01Woo!
44:01Woo!
44:01Woo!
44:02Woo!
44:03Woo!
44:03Woo!
44:03Woo!
44:04Woo!
44:04Woo!
44:05Woo!
44:06Woo!
44:06You
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