- 16 hours ago
Gold Rush: Alaska - Season 16 - Episode 04: Buzz in the Hills
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00:00.
00:21Boom up a little bit, Jordy.
00:25Parker wants to move more dirt than ever before,
00:27so these 550s will be the answer.
00:32It all slides nicely when it's brand new, huh?
00:35Perfect.
00:35We can send this bad boy out.
00:42Hey, Parker, you got a coffee, Parker?
00:44Hey, what's going on?
00:45Yeah, bro, this 550's on its way.
00:48I'm just heading over to Sulphur.
00:50We had a new toy delivered,
00:51so I'm just going to check it out.
00:58I don't know what the fun is in having a dirt-moving company
01:01if you can't have new equipment.
01:07Gold mining mogul, Parker Schnabel,
01:10is sitting in the driver's seat.
01:13Just three weeks into the season,
01:15he's banked more than $2 million in gold
01:19from his Dominion Creek claims.
01:22Now, he's eager to find out
01:25if the gamble he took at Sulphur Creek will pay out.
01:31We ordered oversized buckets.
01:33I'm not sure how it's going to like this.
01:35They just started hauling pay out of the pit here at Sulphur,
01:38and I'm just making more room for stockpile.
01:42The thing is pretty sweet.
01:43But that's a six-and-a-quarter-yard bucket,
01:46which is huge for this size machine.
01:47The bigger the bucket, the better.
01:51Absolutely chewing through the ground.
01:57Basically, we're under the gun for time.
02:00The water license here at Sulphur expires soon,
02:03and I don't want to be put in a position where,
02:05much like Rick Ness is right now,
02:07where we are desperately waiting and hoping
02:11for a license that we need
02:12in order to do what we want to do.
02:14Mined since 1898,
02:18Sulphur Creek's gold is legendary,
02:20with stories of nuggets sitting on the creek bed.
02:25To date, it's paid out $1.2 billion,
02:29and Parker's praying there's still big gold in the ground.
02:34I'm definitely worried.
02:36Sulphur's a really tricky piece of ground.
02:38Are we doing all of this on Sulphur
02:40at the cost of getting Dominion done?
02:43Like, that's the question that haunts me.
02:50Beautiful new toy!
02:51That only took me 30 seconds!
02:54So far, it's handling this bucket really well.
02:57It looked like you were full extension there.
02:59I was like, wow.
02:59Dude, look at how wide it is compared to the 480.
03:01That's insane!
03:03Yeah.
03:03Nice purchase there, boss man.
03:05Special delivery.
03:07Thank you!
03:08So the big thing,
03:10getting you sluicing as soon as we can.
03:13How much time do we have for that?
03:15I was hoping that we could be sluicing within a week.
03:20I'm excited!
03:21Yeah?
03:22I want to get another plant running.
03:24And so that's your guys' challenge.
03:26Yeah.
03:27It's a big one.
03:32They have a nice shiny new excavator.
03:35That should give them some solid reliability,
03:36and hopefully, here in three or four days,
03:39we'll have a wash plant banging away at Sulphur.
03:47Yo, Brennan, you got a copy.
03:49Dude, you can just hear that clock ticking every minute down here.
03:52We're getting closer to running out of time.
03:54It's a big undertaking.
03:56The six-yard bucket will make up to some serious lost time.
03:59Oh, man, he wants 10,000 ounces.
04:01A good part of that's got to come out of here.
04:03Hell yeah, buddy.
04:04This is a pretty cool treasure hunt to be on.
04:07This property's been hammered so hard.
04:10You get really worried about, man, are we going to move all this dirt?
04:13And at the end of the day, is there going to be nothing left in it?
04:20At Sulphur Creek, Mitch and Brennan are on a treasure hunt.
04:25For the last three weeks, they've been clearing Overburden
04:28away from a narrow two-acre cut next to the bank of the valley.
04:34Searching for gold-rich virgin pay that an old-timer's dredge missed.
04:39Now, down to pay, they need to dig it out and stockpile it at the mouth of the cut.
04:46Then, bring in wash plant Roxanne and fire it up by the end of the week.
04:57This cut is very narrow.
04:59Not a lot of room to work.
05:01We've got all this groundwater that's pouring in on us.
05:04All this material, it's so saturated, we've got to try and dry it up.
05:09You know, then we've got to pile all this up into a pay pile.
05:12The wetter it is, the harder all that is.
05:14The trucks will do better when they're running on dry ground.
05:19This pay that we're hauling here, it's real wet.
05:23Now, it's making one hell of a mess.
05:25Rock truck operators Sean Holcroft and Jordan Grosvenor
05:29splashed through the cut, hauling pay dirt.
05:33With the amount of pay we got coming in from the cut, there's not really any place where we can
05:37put it.
05:37So we have to drive over the stuff we've already put here, but it was just schlop we hauled in
05:41from there.
05:47Man, this stuff sucks, man.
05:50You know, it's hard to even drive through.
05:52Oh, there she goes.
05:55Jordan's truck rolled over.
05:57All right, Mitch, you got a copy, Mitch.
05:59Yeah, go ahead.
06:00I got a truck flipped over here.
06:01There's Jordan's truck.
06:03The box is over, not completely, but it's definitely over.
06:10It's fine, I'll head up there.
06:13I'm surprised that it took this long for something to happen.
06:17Never a dull moment.
06:20See, they got their tire up on a high point there, and rolled her over.
06:26So, I get it back on its feet.
06:29You ready, Jordan?
06:31Just put it in neutral.
06:34Just like flip back over.
06:43Ooh, that's heavy.
06:47Try and gently drive forward.
06:50If I honk, stop.
06:58Go ahead and dump that pile right there.
07:01And don't go back that far anymore.
07:03Please and thank you.
07:05Well, it's just a lot of pressure being put on us here.
07:08Having to haul all this out by the end of the week here,
07:10and sometimes just ends up going sideways.
07:16Everybody's doing everything we can here.
07:18If we fall short on getting this ground sluice and sulfur,
07:21it's going to mean that 10,000 ounces is going to be out the window very quickly.
07:25That's definitely not how Parker wants to start the season off.
07:42Gold prices sky high.
07:45There's no better time than getting gold in the box than today.
07:49We had a super-fast start to the season, so right now all we've got to do is keep sluicing.
07:55King of the Klondike, Tony Beetz, is crushing it.
08:00He's been sluicing at his Indian River operation for five weeks,
08:05already banking 775 ounces of his 6,500-ounce target.
08:13Pusselot right now in the Indian River is our only moneymaker,
08:16so we've got to make sure we keep that going.
08:22Because of Mike, he had an emergency.
08:24We had to fly to Europe for a couple of days.
08:26The lead man is gone, so to speak.
08:28I'm not happy because I need more people in charge.
08:33So we're kind of making Jacob step up, see if we can mold him up a little bit.
08:38I've got to do it by myself.
08:44It feels good to be successful up here, helping out Tony.
08:49The task that Tony gets me to do every day puts out more trust and confidence in my work ethic
08:53and what I can do as a person.
08:56Heavy equipment operator Jacob Moore only joined the Beetz crew last season.
09:02Now, he has to step up to acting foreman and impress the king.
09:08He's put every trust that I never thought I would ever get up here.
09:11If you're honest and give it your all, then you get treated like one of them.
09:17Jacob, do you copy?
09:19Yeah, go ahead.
09:20Yeah, in the early forecast, there's a lot of ground waters.
09:23Yeah, copy that.
09:26Oh, . Look at all the water in there.
09:28You can't dig pay on the water.
09:30You can't see what you're doing.
09:31We would leave too much gold behind.
09:36Look at all that water.
09:39That ain't gonna work.
09:42That's not good.
09:43No.
09:45You lay that pipe from here to there, and that water shoots off.
09:49Make it pass.
09:50Bingo.
09:50Done.
09:50In an hour or so, I want to see the pump pumping.
09:55Okay.
09:55Sounds good, don't it?
09:58Last week, Tony tasked his crew with expanding the 13-acre early bird cut by a further 9 acres.
10:08But now spring meltwater is flooding in, drowning the exposed gold-rich pay.
10:16Tony wants Jacob to bring in a submersible pump, connect it to a 400-foot-long pipe, and pump out
10:25the water to drain into a mined-out section of the cut, allowing his crew to get back to hauling
10:33pay.
10:35That was a lot of pressure, but I can handle it.
10:38We need to get what Tony wants done the way Tony wants it done.
10:42I do not want to be on Tony Beach's wrong side.
10:45Don't waste the time.
10:46Just get on with it.
10:49Jacob's first task?
10:51Move in the submersible pump.
10:52I mean, the longer it takes, the more water we're going to have to deal with.
10:56So the sooner we cure the problem, the better it is.
11:00But if you're going to have a foreman, you better be able to leave him alone to solve his own
11:04problems.
11:05Let's see if Jacob's got what it takes.
11:09I'm just going to move it over here, then we can get that pipe up.
11:19We're just going to get the pump set up and get this pipe drug into place so we can get
11:22the water pumped out.
11:29Wiggle it.
11:30Up.
11:41Let's see if it'll tilt this way.
11:46Push up on it.
11:47It's starting to go.
11:50Oh, are you kidding me?
11:52That's .
11:56Try that.
11:58Clips off the side are broken off, and it's all rusty on the inside, so you have to have it
12:01level and get both pins in.
12:07Ah.
12:11If they were kind of hurry the up, that would be kind of nice.
12:16It needs to go down one.
12:18Swing it back this way.
12:21These people have no idea how frustrating it is for me.
12:28Hey, see how the around?
12:30That idiot is clueless.
12:32I want to see the pump pumping.
12:35.
12:41.
12:43I need to go down one.
12:46.
12:46Swing it back this way.
12:47At Indian River, Tony has tasked stand-in foreman Jacob Moore with draining the flooded early bird extension within an
12:56hour.
12:57Hey, see how the .
12:59That idiot is clueless.
13:01But the king isn't impressed with how long it's taking.
13:06Jacob's time and Tony's patience are up.
13:10Okay, I'll take over.
13:11Might as well do it myself.
13:13Jacob.
13:15Jacob.
13:16Okay, D6.
13:17Hook around to the pipe.
13:21.
13:25We're going to drag the pipe in.
13:27Pump all of them.
13:28It's that simple.
13:30When I do it, it usually way quicker.
13:33Hold it.
13:34Stay there.
13:37.
13:39Bring the .
13:39D49 over there.
13:42Get a chain on there.
13:46We'll grab it with the hole.
13:47We'll swing it in place, Andrew.
13:50It's okay, Andrew.
13:52Got it?
13:52Yeah.
13:53And all we've got to do is hook it together.
13:57Drag it closer if you can.
14:00Okay, you want me to walk it in a bit?
14:02Yeah, please, yeah.
14:04Can you get in and bring the pipe this way more?
14:08Ow.
14:13This thing must be a little egg-shaped maybe,
14:15so it doesn't quite fit in.
14:17Jacob.
14:18Yeah.
14:19You got a camera in the truck?
14:21My truck's over by the red pump.
14:23Get a hammer.
14:24Okay.
14:26So there's going to beat the in there.
14:35.
14:35Idiot is still trying to get hammered out of his truck.
14:40Oh, what the **** does it take?
14:41Oh!
14:43Give me a rock.
14:44Now.
14:45Give me a rock.
14:46Nailed that close.
14:48Yeah, I know, yeah.
14:52Good hit.
14:54Let's just slide in.
15:00Okay.
15:01I think you got her.
15:06Jacob.
15:07Too late for that.
15:09Fire the pump up.
15:13Finally, after Tony's intervention,
15:16the pump can start draining the flooded cut.
15:20They're just hooking up the wires,
15:21the fire of the pump.
15:22Good.
15:27Good.
15:28And she's sucking.
15:32Good to have a pump in there,
15:34draining all the water out of it.
15:37**** in the ass.
15:38Tony's not too impressed.
15:41Definitely know he's not pleased.
15:44Jacob's not impressive.
15:45As far as I'm concerned, everybody is replaceable.
15:48There's a pretty simple deal down there.
15:50If you're too lazy to do it right,
15:52well, now you're going to have to do something about it.
15:55So, we'll see.
16:19Just a bit more stress than I was really hoping for this year.
16:23We are kind of hurting for our experienced crew.
16:25Ben is not coming back.
16:27Kenan's off to Parker's as well.
16:29Kind of dropping like flies around here.
16:32Kevin beats second season as mind boss.
16:35He's off to a rocky start,
16:37having lost two key members from his skeleton crew.
16:41On a small crew, when people leave, you feel it.
16:452,000-ounce gold seems a little further away now,
16:48but at least we're sluicing,
16:50so we're still able to be producing.
16:53We have a bit of pay stockpiled from the Lynx extension,
16:56but as soon as that runs out,
16:57we're really going to have to get material out of the pyramid cut.
17:03Kevin's crew has been sluicing stockpiled pay from last season for two weeks,
17:10delivering over 100 ounces.
17:12But with the pile fast running out,
17:15his crew of five have also been racing to open up new ground
17:19in the three-acre pyramid cut.
17:23It's nonstop for the trucks falling overburden.
17:26The goal is to hit pay in the pyramid cut
17:29in time for when the plant is moved and ready to fire back up.
17:36We're stretching our crew to the limit right now,
17:38but it's what we've got to do to keep on going.
17:42We're finishing up the pay around the plant,
17:44then we'll move the plant,
17:46but there's going to be a lot more work than I thought it is now
17:49without Brennan and Caden.
17:51With a big plant move on the horizon this week,
17:55Kevin's looking to find new recruits.
17:58Me and Faith are working our way through quite a few resumes.
18:01We did find a fairly experienced miner.
18:04We'll see him when he shows up and hopefully that works out.
18:11Pretty decent winter,
18:13but I'm actually going for the first time in my life,
18:16swimming in the ocean for the first time in my life.
18:18Veteran gold miner Buzz Legault
18:21has had a busy winter.
18:24My teeth all fixed up.
18:26It's kind of freaking nice.
18:28Gives me more of a reason to smile now.
18:31I wouldn't really say that I'm smiling more.
18:34I'm just a lot less self-conscious about it.
18:39But Buzz wasn't smiling last year,
18:42after two seasons working for Rick Ness.
18:46Hey, Buzz, you got a copy?
18:48Their relationship sour.
18:51Hey, Buzz!
18:55There's not a hundred-person crew here.
18:56You're a guy in this crew.
18:58You're going to jump in where the you fit in
18:59or you're going to go the home.
19:01If you don't want to work with me,
19:03then you all go.
19:06Last season, everything that went down
19:08was still kind of a hard punch.
19:10You know, it put me and Rick
19:12were a lot closer than that.
19:14Time for new things.
19:16I just got a phone call from Kevin and Faith there.
19:20I'm looking for some good hands this season,
19:23so you can check them out.
19:27All right.
19:28Here we are.
19:36Hey, guys. How's it going?
19:38No, it's a bad hat. Good sir.
19:39Hello there.
19:40Nice to meet you.
19:41You're in your 10,000-lumen smile.
19:46Never lose me at night.
19:47All I can do is keep on smiling.
19:52Thanks for coming to meet us, Buzz.
19:54We do appreciate you showing up.
19:55Though we do get to ask,
19:56I know you're the foreman at Rick's last year,
19:58and clearly you're not going back there.
20:01What's happening?
20:03There's uncertainties over there
20:05with his water license and everything.
20:08Life has changed for me.
20:11I need a little more stability in life.
20:16Well, this year I have a little baby on the way, so...
20:20Congratulations.
20:20Yes.
20:22We're down a foreman.
20:24Is that something you might be interested in, or...?
20:26We have a little baby on the way and whatnot.
20:28No, I don't think that would be a good position for me.
20:33Well, I think we kind of need more of a jack-of-all-trades
20:36more than anything else.
20:39From what I've gathered, you know how to run equipment,
20:42you know how to fix things,
20:43and you can also weld a little bit.
20:44Yeah.
20:45This might work.
20:48I could be your buzz of all trades.
20:54If it all sounds good to you, welcome aboard.
20:58Perfect.
20:59That was great.
21:00Thank you, guys.
21:01Oh, let's get to work.
21:05That went pretty well, you know?
21:07Working with Kevin and Faith this season.
21:10Seemed like a pretty good couple.
21:13So, excited to see where this goes.
21:27As much as I would like to have all of the focus on Dominion,
21:31that's just not really a feasible option.
21:34There are projects that absolutely have to happen this year,
21:37and that is sulfur, so we just have to get them done.
21:47And sulfur, we're just about ready for the plant move.
21:50We're going to get rock sand.
21:52Parker's trying to give us the best of the best
21:54for what we have to do here.
21:56At Sulfur Creek, Brennan and Mitch have identified
21:59what they believe are gold hotspots,
22:02and stockpiled the pay dirt.
22:06Now, it's finally time to start sluicing.
22:09Well, we're ready to haul rock sand down to sulfur,
22:12so we're going to go build some wash plant.
22:18You know, early in the season like this,
22:20the roads are in the worst shape of the whole year.
22:23Come on, baby. Come on, come on.
22:27This is the sketchiest thing we have done in a long time.
22:31We got soft roads, wash plant that's top-heavy,
22:34and we're in a rush.
22:36The 25 miles of dirt road from Dominion to Sulfur
22:40is closed all winter.
22:43Opened just six weeks ago, it is still thawing out.
22:48Oh, you almost hit that tree.
22:53Rock sand is big and robust, and we throw rocks at it all day long,
22:56but we're clipping the trees.
23:00And all it's going to take is grabbing onto some wiring,
23:03or a hose, and we're going to have a wash plant
23:05that's not going to want to do what it needs to do.
23:07Check this branch out.
23:12I think we're taking some risks here.
23:20Oh, no, no, no, no, no!
23:26Oh, there went our internet.
23:30Our wash plants have internet on them, which is very handy.
23:34This one now does not.
23:37We're too remote here to have the radios reach back to camp.
23:41We are going to need a new dish here.
23:49All right, we got rock sand.
23:51Where it needs to live, we're going to run back,
23:53grab a sluice run, and start putting this thing together.
23:56There we have it.
24:00We're going to build a little pad and pull this thing off
24:02as quick as we can.
24:03We just got to get her off in one piece,
24:05standing up straight.
24:11I like it. It looks good.
24:15Next, Mitch collects the plant's sluice runs from Dominion.
24:19The purpose of the sluice runs being wide
24:21is if you put more through the wash plant faster.
24:25The problem with that is when you've got to move it.
24:31You can see I'm having to drive down the middle of the road.
24:35If something's driving the other way, we're going to be in trouble.
24:38Last thing we're going to be doing is backing up on these roads, Miles.
24:43Just got to slow down here.
24:48It's so narrow here, and these trees are big.
24:50And this thing is clipping things on the sides.
24:54You can hear the branches breaking behind us here.
24:58We are just threading a needle right now.
25:13Oh, we've got something coming off the back there.
25:17These roads are so rough.
25:19This trailer is vibrating so much.
25:23We're not stopping on the middle of these hills.
25:25We'll have to go back and get it.
25:31Jacob, you got a copy?
25:32Yeah, go ahead.
25:35Jacob, we are missing some of the iron and some of the carpets.
25:38Let's see what all you can find.
25:49Load all these guys up.
25:50Don't have to go that far.
25:52Get them back as fast as possible.
25:54Just put them back in the runs.
26:03Right on, buddy. Give her.
26:05It's just going to pull the sluice runs off here.
26:08Bill's wash plant.
26:11Well, man, we're looking pretty good here.
26:13What do you say we bring in the next piece of the puzzle?
26:25Yeah, yeah, we got clearance here.
26:30Right now, we got our hopper feeder and the conveyor in place.
26:34The plant's leveled. The sluice runs are set.
26:36So we just got to hook up our water line here and we're going to be ready to start sluicing.
26:43Here we go. We got rock sand firing up right now.
26:51This is our first scoop going in here.
26:53And we got three wash plants up and running.
27:00What's up?
27:01How are we?
27:02Looking good.
27:03Nice job making that work in time.
27:05I was like, there's no way this is going to work.
27:08I mean, dude, it came together pretty nice.
27:10Good job.
27:12This project was supposed to be 1,000 feet.
27:14Now it's 2,000 feet.
27:15There's more to go.
27:16Yeah. 3,000.
27:174,000 feet."
27:364,000 feet.
27:37They've got to keep the sluice box going all week.
27:47I don't care if that is at 6 in the morning or 12 o'clock at night.
27:51We'll get the f*** over there and make it run.
27:53At Indian River, with Cousin Mike still away,
27:57Tony has no choice but to give stand-in foreman Jacob Moore
28:03a second chance to step up.
28:06I do have worries for what Tony will think.
28:09I wanted to show him that I can make decisions
28:11and do stuff on my own without his need to be there
28:15and oversee everything.
28:22This big boy is a moneymaker, so the pressure is on to get him out.
28:27Cousin Mike is not around right now,
28:30so Jacob has kind of taken over.
28:32A lot of responsibility.
28:34It must be stressful for him.
28:42The watchman really doesn't sound good.
28:45Something's definitely wrong in there.
28:47Shouldn't be any sound like this.
28:55Jacob, you're kicking your car.
28:56I think I'm going to shut down the watchman.
28:58I heard a big, loud noise in there.
29:01Yeah, I heard a big, loud noise in there.
29:03Yeah, I heard a big, loud noise in there.
29:22The noise is coming from the plants.
29:23We're going to check it out and see what's going on up here.
29:27At Indian River, stand-in foreman Jacob has shut down Tony Beat's only running wash plan,
29:35Sluice-A-Lot, to investigate mysterious noises coming from inside the shaker deck.
29:41I have suspicions it's probably down here where all the bolts and everything's bolted together.
29:46It means I'll have to crawl in here.
29:49Hopefully nothing's broken.
29:53Ah, there's our issue.
29:55Everything is cracked.
29:57That is not good.
29:59We can't run this at all.
30:01This plant will just shake itself in the little itty-bitty bits out the tail end.
30:04I'm lucky that we caught it when we did before I cut too bad.
30:10Slide, lift it up so we can get the shoot out because the shoot is cracked as well.
30:15I don't know how to get this shoot out so we can have two welders going at the same time.
30:19All right, I'm just going to put my feet on it.
30:24Woo-hoo!
30:25It's heavy.
30:26There's a problem.
30:27The bolt rattled out and caused it to get violent and crack.
30:32Now we have to take the welders down here.
30:35Sluice-A-Lot's shaker deck has two screens that separate waste rocks from gold-rich pay dirt.
30:43The waste rocks move towards a tailing chute that funnels them onto a conveyor and ejects
30:50them into a waste pile, but some of the bolts connecting the chute to the deck's steel frame
30:57have fallen out making it unstable, leading to the chute constantly hitting and cracking
31:03the deck's frame.
31:04Jacob plans to weld the cracks, replace the old chute, bolt it back into place and get
31:13the wash plant up and sluicing again.
31:18Where do you want it at to weld?
31:19Right here.
31:20It looks perfect.
31:21I noticed this crack here, another crack here, and here as well.
31:26A couple of seconds, man, could have been a big change in what we're doing today.
31:29Yeah, you're lucky.
31:31Because I'm going to actually do an inside weld first.
31:33Because then when I grind, oh, there's my weld.
31:35I get 100% out of it.
31:42JV is slower down the crack.
31:47Just doing the last weld here.
31:57All done.
31:59The piece has the cracks all done on the plant.
32:03We've been down for four hours now.
32:05We've got to put this chute on.
32:07We've got the cracks wobbled up on it.
32:09Now it's going to get back in place.
32:12Mason's up there putting the bolts in for me.
32:14Down here, I'll come give you a hand.
32:18Getting there, buddy.
32:26Yeah, that's the last bolt.
32:28Tighten them up and get good to go.
32:30Yeah, go ahead.
32:31Tony just called.
32:33He wants to know if we are sleuthing.
32:35We will be here in like 20 minutes, half hour talk.
32:38Fire up action.
32:42You're all done up there?
32:44Yes, sir.
32:46Tony's coming out here.
32:48It would be nice to have rocks come out.
32:49The tailings and gold in the bar for when he shows up.
32:53I'm going to hop in the hole if you want to fire everything up for me.
33:10It looks good now.
33:11We can sort out a problem without Tony being here.
33:13I think it looks good on Jacob as well.
33:16We're sleuthing.
33:17We're making money and that means everybody's happy.
33:20Everything went very well.
33:21Everything is fixed in a timely manner.
33:23We're back in action.
33:24And hopefully we're good from here on out.
33:33Well, what's up?
33:34Oh, the plant was all cracked.
33:35We got it all welded up and the back's loose.
33:37And that is good.
33:38Still washing rocks.
33:40Awesome, Jacob.
33:40Good job, man.
33:41Yeah, take care, Tony.
33:42Great to be back sleuthing.
33:43Yeah, see you later.
33:44That's good.
33:44Okay, thank you.
33:48He was down a couple of hours, but I would have been down a couple of hours too.
33:51You can only weld so fast.
33:53So, no, it's all good.
33:56I think Jacob, he's got what it takes.
33:58When cousin Mike is in there, I mean, there's Jacob that automatically takes over.
34:03It's not rocket science.
34:13Since we're done on the floor here, we are moving the plant to a new location on the wayside
34:18over there.
34:20Three miles away at Scribner Creek, Tony's eldest son, Kevin, has run out of stockpiled pay
34:27and is preparing for the biggest plant move of his fledgling career.
34:32We are going to have so much space for our fine tailings and our coarse tailings.
34:36Down here, we only had 20 feet we could fill up.
34:38On top of the wayside, that's going to be 100, 120 feet to fill up.
34:42Easier on the equipment, shorter trips.
34:47Kevin wants to haul his 35-ton wash plant from its current pad at the links cut with an excavator
34:55down a 20-degree slope, maneuver it around a tight corner,
35:02then drag it 400 feet up a steep 30-degree incline to its final sluicing location.
35:13It is going to be a little bit further away from the pyramid cut, but as soon as we're done
35:18here,
35:18we're going to have to go upstream, and we're going to be way closer to the upstream cut.
35:21So, a bit of future-proofing.
35:24Now we just got to make it happen.
35:29I'd like to get everything up and running.
35:31Not to Russia, but we're trying to Russia.
35:34Kevin puts new recruit Buzz straight into the hot seat.
35:39All right.
35:43This is going to be one of the first big projects Buzz is going to do for us since he
35:46came on site,
35:46so we've got high expectations and high hopes.
35:53Turn on the cables, and then let's get ready.
35:57We're going to hook up the plant and drag that into position.
36:02Definitely don't want to flip that plant over.
36:05That'll be a season-ender for sure.
36:14Faith, can I get you on the pen?
36:16This is the only plant we got.
36:17If this is damaged, we're stuck in the water, so to speak.
36:20Hopefully this move goes smoothly.
36:23All right, everything's hooked up.
36:24I guess it's time to pull Buzz.
36:26We'll have the rest of us spotters, but just be careful.
36:28Let's go.
36:34We have movement.
36:37This would be a good test of Buzz's operating skills.
36:44I don't want to scratch the paint on this puppy.
36:48I'm just watching that our runs are not scraping on the ground at the end.
36:55If they're too close, they'll rub on the ground,
36:57and they might rip off.
36:59We didn't do a lot of your car work, so...
37:03close.
37:06close.
37:08We're just scraping them right now.
37:13Oh, man.
37:15This is even a word.
37:17Stop. Stop.
37:19Don't try and lift it up like that.
37:22Let the tension off the cable.
37:24We're raising the sluice around so they don't drag in the ground.
37:27Case in point.
37:32We pay three quarters of a million dollars for the wash plant,
37:35so we really don't want to it.
37:38Chutes lifted up.
37:39We shouldn't have any other problems for the pool.
37:44We've got some weight on this plant here.
37:47This part here is digging in a little bit.
37:51Making it a little bit difficult for the excavator to move.
37:56Now we pull it up the hill until its final resting spot,
38:00hopefully for the season.
38:12Oh, no. It's flipping.
38:16Yep. Stop. Stop.
38:17Oh, ****.
38:19That's not going to **** work.
38:21Your ass ends already up the ground.
38:23I don't think it's going to do it.
38:26I guess the wash plant might be a bit too heavy with the angle and the hill.
38:30Damn it.
38:32We'll get something with twice the weight.
38:34Four times the power.
38:36Alrighty.
38:36We'll bring that D-10 over here.
38:38See you play.
38:42The 63-ton D-10 dozer is 10 tons heavier
38:46than the 480 excavator
38:49and has three times the pulling power.
38:52Let's get the D-10 lined up
38:54and, well, that's going to **** move it, guaranteed.
38:56Well, let's make it happen, eh?
38:58Better.
39:02Everybody got communication?
39:04I need your services ready.
39:08Yeah, we got...
39:11100 tons of ****, we're going somewhere.
39:16Yeah, we got the hard part taken care of.
39:20Working here in Camden,
39:21it'll get to be a lot more diversified than most places.
39:26It's been kind of nice, you know.
39:29These are our final steps here.
39:34Stop.
39:35Perfect.
39:37Went up the hill nice.
39:39Oh, yeah.
39:40Good job, Buzz.
39:42Didn't even have to break a sweat.
39:43Step one.
39:44Done.
39:46Now that it's all in place,
39:47the next thing is to do a bit of repairs
39:48and take a bit of extra time.
39:50We shouldn't have to move this year or next year.
39:53We have so much space for tailings,
39:55and that way this summer we can just run, run, run.
39:58I am very happy with that.
40:01Oh, yeah.
40:01Oh, **** yeah.
40:10So can you walk the pipe, young fella?
40:12Tony Beetz runs a tight ship,
40:15and his crew members need to be able to walk a fine line.
40:20I said can you walk the pipe,
40:21or can you walk the **** pipe?
40:23The ****?
40:25Right?
40:27I enjoy this kind of ****.
40:31So what?
40:43Hi, guys.
40:45Hello.
40:45Hello.
40:46Bring some more gold.
40:49Whoa.
40:49Whoa.
40:50So what is new in the Indian River?
40:53Jacob had to step up.
40:54We had the cut that was flooded,
40:56so we had to **** around with it,
40:58pump, pump, pump, pump.
40:59And then we had this green deck,
41:01had some cracks in it.
41:02With Cousin Mike away,
41:05stand-in foreman Jacob ran Tony's
41:08only producing wash plant, Sluice-A-Lot.
41:11So how many days?
41:12We sluiced for seven days.
41:14Minus the couple of hours that you were down,
41:17so it's not a full week.
41:20Sluice-A-Lot has been averaging
41:22192 ounces a week.
41:27Pour in there.
41:29Let's go.
41:3010.
41:3040.
41:3280.
41:33On the 10.
41:35On the 10.
41:38230.
41:41250.
41:42250 ounces.
41:44.74.
41:47Worth $878,000.
41:50That's not bad.
41:51No, **** going on with it.
41:53Only days.
41:53Hey, does that put us over 1,000 ounces?
41:55Yeah, 1,025.
41:57So it's kind of nice that we get Jacob up and going,
42:00because now that Mike isn't there,
42:01it's nice to have.
42:02Mm-hmm.
42:03It seems to be doing pretty well.
42:04Yeah.
42:05Yeah.
42:05Stepping up, it's good to see.
42:07Absolutely.
42:08With that being said, you should pack it back up
42:10and go do what you all do best.
42:12Okay, we'll see you guys later.
42:13Later, guys.
42:15That adds up nicely this early in the season, doesn't it?
42:18Yeah, it doesn't take months, eh?
42:19No.
42:20And with the gold prize it is, it's a lot of money.
42:23Usually when this time of year we just get started.
42:30Three miles east at Scribner,
42:32it's the end of Buzz's first week with Kevin and Faith.
42:37How are you fitting in so far?
42:39I don't know.
42:39You guys tell me.
42:42Been kicking off a lot of projects pretty quick,
42:44seeing problems and fixing them,
42:46so I think overall fitting in pretty good.
42:48I'm curious.
42:48How is it compared to working with Rick?
42:51Very different.
42:52Very different?
42:53Very different.
42:54How different?
42:56Very different.
42:56Very different.
42:56Just different.
42:59Well, that's good to hear, Buzz,
43:00because, like, with Caden and Brennan leaving,
43:02I was starting to worry that, well,
43:04we were doing something wrong and just didn't know.
43:07This is the last of our piggy bank cut,
43:10so we have a little bit of gold to weigh.
43:13Not a bad-looking amount.
43:15Not too bad.
43:16It's time to weigh the last of Kevin's stockpiled pay.
43:21Kevin ran for three days before moving the wash plant.
43:25One for the money.
43:26Two for the show.
43:27Let's go.
43:29Two.
43:30Ten.
43:32Eighteen.
43:33Twenty-six.
43:34Thirty-eight.
43:35Forty-seven.
43:37Twenty-eight.
43:37Fifty-six.
43:41Fifty-six.
43:41Five-nine-zero.
43:44It's pretty good.
43:45Yeah, that's not too bad.
43:47Worth?
43:49$198,000.
43:51It's encouraging for everything else we're going to run.
43:54Definitely there's gold in the ground.
43:56So what does that put our total at for the year so far?
43:59Currently we're sitting at 162.09.
44:02So a wild ways to the 2,000 ounces.
44:05A little ways to go.
44:06I mean, of course, we want to get sluicing as soon as possible.
44:09We've got some work to do with the plant, so it's going to take a little bit of time.
44:13But ideally we'll get going ASAP.
44:15Hopefully by the end of the week we can start sluicing the pyramid cut.
44:18See what treasures it's got.
44:20It's not running.
44:21We're not getting any gold, so.
44:22That's right.
44:24Unfortunately, the plant stops, but the bills don't.
44:37Having internet on the trucks this year is like a lifesaver.
44:40Except for me, I'm like, I need to get a hold of it.
44:42Like the other day when I was trying to get a hold of you, I'm like, call you and you
44:45don't answer.
44:46And I'm like, where is this ?
44:51It's that look right there.
44:53I had a dream last night.
44:54I was like, I don't know what the I was stressed out and I woke up sweaty.
44:58He's telling me about that dream.
45:00His cheek was like touching my, his stubble was rubbing my face.
45:03He almost caught me.
45:07How does it feel to make it into Brennan's dreams?
45:10Oh man, I want to haunt all four of you.
45:13You know, what's it like working for Parker?
45:14Well, there's the dreams and the PTSD, but other than that, it's great.
45:20Three wash plants up and running.
45:22It's Parker's first triple gold way of the season.
45:26KT, you ready?
45:28Yeah.
45:28Look at that sluice for here.
45:29This is a two-hander.
45:31See how the Golden Mile did this week.
45:32Last week, the Golden Mile produced 152 ounces.
45:37Here we go.
45:3920, 60, 80, 120, 140, 180.
45:46We're going to break two.
45:47200.
45:48Nice.
45:49210, 220, 222.3.
45:53Worth $778,000.
45:58Sick.
45:59That is nice.
46:00Anyway, we got Mr. Bob.
46:03Come on, Brennan.
46:04The bridge cut is averaging 150 ounces a week.
46:0920, 40, 80, 90, 130, 40, 170.
46:17Oh yeah.
46:18190.4.
46:19Worth $666,000.
46:24Sick.
46:25Nice.
46:26Finally, Parker will discover if his gamble to chase gold left behind by the old timers at
46:33Sulfur will pay out.
46:35We got to do Sulfur, Mitch.
46:37We need it.
46:37We've been spending money like it's going out of style.
46:40First run of Sulfur here.
46:42We got 20, 40, 90, 110, 114.8.
46:55That's actually really good for the hours you ran.
46:58Yeah.
46:58I mean, we just got the plant set up and that material was like the first cut off.
47:03Oh, I thought it was going to be terrible.
47:05I thought you were going to have like 20 ounces.
47:07Wow.
47:07That's a lot of gold for one week.
47:09Yeah.
47:09Yeah.
47:10Yeah.
47:10We had a really good week.
47:12Well, we had, for this week, it was 527 and a half ounces for the week.
47:17Dang.
47:18Yeah.
47:20Worth over $1.8 million.
47:24For the season so far, it's 1,235.4 ounces.
47:30Sweet.
47:30Which is about 1,100 ounces ahead of where we were this time last year.
47:34Nice.
47:35All right.
47:36Thanks, guys.
47:37Keep it up.
47:38Let's get back out there, man.
47:39Let's do it.
47:40Yeah.
47:41Good job, boys.
47:42It's really nice to have three plants up and running.
47:44Mitch and Brennan are doing a good job over at Sulphur getting that opened up.
47:47So, I'm excited to see what it can do in a full week of running.
47:51It's pretty sweet.
47:52We're going to do some serious damage this year.
47:55It was cold.
47:57It's too good.
47:58You couldn't figure it out.
47:58There's the man acquiesceries that are usually the latest overex plunged.
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