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Gold Rush: Alaska - Season 16 - Episode 21: 1,000-Ounce Week
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00:17We already flew past that 6,500-ounce goal.
00:20I mean, just because we're at the goal doesn't mean we're going to stop.
00:25The market is going for 10,000 ounces.
00:27Let's see who ends up on top.
00:28Tony Beats only has a few weeks left in the season
00:33and wants to blow his rivals out of the water
00:36to secure his crown as king of the Klondike.
00:41He's already stacked over $30 million,
00:44but with the gold price jumping another $100 an ounce,
00:50the king is hungry for more.
00:53We got to find a lot.
00:54This looks a lot.
00:55There's ripping through the corner cut in the Indian.
00:59Mike from Paradise, I mean, he's got a trommel running,
01:02and he's got enough pay now out of Hester,
01:04so he's going to have Harold on the ground.
01:07By the end of the week, you had four sluice plants running.
01:10So the potential of having 1,000-ounce gold lace are almost guaranteed.
01:24If Tony is to hit a record 1,000-ounce hole this week,
01:29he needs to run the fresh Hester cut pay.
01:32Now let's see if we can find some gold in the pay.
01:35And for that, he needs to set up his fourth wash plant, Harold.
01:41Fast.
01:42It's time to build her up.
01:44Build him up, I guess, huh?
01:46It's a Harold.
01:47First step, build the pad for the 100-yard-an-hour plant.
01:52Pile over here, pile in the middle, and a pile over there.
01:56Okay.
01:57I'll start thinking about a setback.
02:07It's looking pretty good.
02:09We'll pull the plants on, see what it does.
02:19Go!
02:21Beautiful.
02:22Done.
02:26Next, install the 30-foot-long hopper feeder.
02:30Everybody, you out of the way!
02:33Straight back, Lance.
02:34Straight back.
02:38Good.
02:39Good, good, good, good, good.
02:41Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop!
02:44Oh, .
02:45Forward, Lance.
02:48Had it on the wrong channel!
02:54Finally, connect the hose.
02:57And fire up the pump that sends water to the plant.
03:08What the f*** did they do to this thing?
03:13Because it's telling me the cooling's low.
03:18It's over full.
03:20I haven't been that lucky with pumps.
03:24Lucas, do you copy?
03:25Lucas, do you copy?
03:27If mechanic Lucas Lotz can't fix the pump, Tony's hopes for a four-wash plant blitz and thousand-ounce week
03:36are toast.
03:37So, it's either sensor for the coolant or it's the ECM, according to the code.
03:44The ECM, or electronic control module, is the pump's computer.
03:49It will not allow the pump to fire up if it can't sense coolant.
03:55You guys have started it and everything?
03:57Yep.
03:58Gonna go have a check at what Colby's doing.
04:01These engines are pretty common, but best-case scenario, I just need to reduce some sensor wiring.
04:06Worst-case, we'll need an ECM and it'll be about a week.
04:10Mike will be f***ing pissed.
04:14So, the coolant sensor is definitely f***ing.
04:16That's probably why it won't start.
04:18It thinks that there's no coolant in it.
04:20Yeah, that's over full.
04:23These are potentiometers.
04:27Sometimes, in a pinch, you can use these in place of a sensor, if you know what you're doing.
04:33With no spare sensors, Lucas plans to bush fix the pump with a potentiometer, a type of variable resistor he
04:43hopes can replicate the electronic signal of a working sensor.
04:48You just gotta match the resistance that the sensor would regularly put out.
04:54So, we got it plugged in, so now I gotta play with it.
04:57And then, once I get it to a sweet spot, the code will go away, and then we're in business,
05:01theoretically.
05:05Yeah.
05:12I think I got it.
05:17Well, a little bit.
05:20Yeah, it looks like a potentiometer trick worked.
05:23So, Mike's gonna be more happy than a pig in s*** or a pig in gold this time of year,
05:27I guess.
05:38Is this kind of a big day for Mike if he gets to start up Harold again?
05:42We'll start turning it on.
05:46Hey!
05:48You got water?
05:50Dump!
05:51Dump!
05:52Dump!
05:55Dump!
05:55We have to go get some champagne, Mom.
05:58Yeah.
05:59Hey, you got two plants around me.
06:02Yeah.
06:03Finally.
06:04Very good.
06:06With Harold finally sluicing Hester Cut pay dirt, the Beats have a shot at a record-breaking 1,000-ounce
06:15wheat.
06:16Now it's going.
06:17That's good.
06:18I hope it stays going until the end of the year.
06:37What's happening, man?
06:39I just wanted to let you know we're gonna come do the stripping down here this fall for next year.
06:46So, the whole stripping crew's coming down.
06:49So, we're gonna go up and take another bite into the hill.
06:52Just keep an eye on them.
06:53Well, that gets pretty deep over there going to that hillside.
06:56There's a lot of mud.
06:57We only got a couple trucks down here.
06:59I'm trying to dig, pay, do finds, keep the plant running 24 hours a day.
07:03Like, we've got, what, five of us down here.
07:07Running a whole mine site.
07:08No, I get it.
07:09I totally get it.
07:12You know, we are where we are.
07:15I mean, I know it needs to be done, but it doesn't make getting it done any easier.
07:20I am aware of that, but they're coming down.
07:23All right.
07:24Well, we'll see what we can do to keep them rolling.
07:29Right now, we're just trying to keep this wash plant running.
07:31Bringing a bunch more machines down here.
07:33It's just more we got to stay on top of.
07:35And right now, we got our hands full.
07:42It's been a long season, and you know, the end is well within sight.
07:49Parker Schnabel is gaining momentum.
07:51With multiple weeks above 500 ounces,
07:55he's nearly 700 ounces ahead of Tony in the race to 10,000.
08:01But he's already got his eye on next season's prize.
08:05Fall time is one of our most productive stripping times for the next year.
08:13And with how much we're sluicing these years, the stripping is just incredibly important.
08:19We've got a crew just starting our next pit on the Indian River for next year.
08:23And in the midst of, you know, trying to keep wash plants running and keep things thawed out,
08:28Mitch is also, you know, taking that on.
08:31Can't understate how important that part of the company is.
08:46This is such a massive project here.
08:50Parker wants all the mud off before the end of the season.
08:53And even if we throw every resource we have at it,
08:56I still don't think we've got enough time to get this done before the end of the season.
09:02At the Indian River, in Kennan Stewart's Pit 2,
09:06Mitch still has three acres to mine out and sluice through rock sand before the end of the season.
09:13But now a third of a mile away,
09:16Parker has tasked Mitch with also overseeing a massive stripping project,
09:21opening up a new 28-acre cut.
09:25Mitch's crew must first shift nearly a million yards of mud
09:29to expose the cut's layer of permafrost.
09:33Once thawed by the sun,
09:36they need to strip it down to pay gravels
09:39before winter freezes them out.
09:44It's just so tough when you're trying to be at two places at once.
09:47I need to be down at the wash plant, taking care of things there.
09:50And then you come over here, check on the stripping crew,
09:52and you're like, oh, I could spend all day over here making things work better.
09:57I love running those. It's probably my favorite machine.
10:01It's like playing in the sandbox when you're a kid,
10:03but now I have a really big muddy sandbox.
10:07Operator Jacob Allen is in one of the two D10 dozers,
10:12removing the top layer of mud.
10:15If we don't get down to permafrost, sun can't thaw it out,
10:19and we're pretty well screwed.
10:22In the 950 excavator,
10:25Caden Potvin loads the overburden into rock trucks
10:28to dump out of the cut.
10:30We got as much gear down here as we have available to us right now,
10:36so thinking optimistically we could be out of here before Christmas.
10:47Uh-oh.
10:49Caden, we're going to need your help.
10:50Just hit a pretty good soft spot here.
10:53All right, I'll crawl off the pile here and come give you a little push.
10:59Yeah, that'd be awesome.
11:02Jacob's $1.5 million machine is no match for the slop.
11:10All this water's seeped up through underneath,
11:12and it's turned it all right to poo.
11:21All right, all right.
11:24More.
11:28Oh, a bite.
11:29Uh, I'm not going to get a f*** out of this one.
11:34F***ing Mud Mountain.
11:49Come on.
11:50Come on.
11:52F***.
11:54Parker's Indian River stripping crew is stuck in the mud.
11:59We're going to have to go up more, Caden.
12:03I'm even sliding backwards.
12:08Yeah, Caden, I don't think that worked.
12:11If they can't strip the overburden this week,
12:14they won't be able to thaw the permafrost,
12:17ruining Parker's plan for a fast start next season.
12:22Yeah, I'm getting stuck too.
12:23So, uh, I'll dig this out and see if that works.
12:28Yeah, you're going to have to come around and swim inside.
12:31I got you.
12:40I'm just digging out all the stuff that's making the dozer spin out,
12:46and it should just be able to drive right out here.
12:49I do tell the rock truckers that they get one freebie,
12:53and then every time I get them unstucked after that,
12:57it's a case of Dr. Pepper.
13:00Uh, it's way cheaper than the case of Vera's going to buy you.
13:05Okay.
13:06Good luck.
13:16I'm making a break from home.
13:18Thanks, Caden.
13:19I really appreciate that.
13:21Hey, man.
13:22Like you said, first one's free.
13:25This is going to be an expensive hill.
13:32500 feet away at the other end of the new cut.
13:37We've got to get the mud moved if we got any shot of mining this ground next season.
13:44Right now, the weather's holding out for us, so we got to make the most of it.
13:48Mitch.
13:49Yeah, man, what's up?
13:51We've added some horsepower to the fleet.
13:53You'll be pleasantly surprised.
13:55I'm on my way.
14:01Yeah, I definitely never thought that we'd be buying one of these brand new,
14:04but, um, the gold prices being where they're at, it made sense.
14:16I mean, check that out, brand new D11.
14:20You know, crazy to think that's $4 million right there.
14:23Uh, that's how Parker spends his money.
14:26You know, you could have a sports car, big house, but, uh, you know, that's what Parker's got there.
14:30There's, uh, big yellow iron, which turns into some shiny yellow gold.
14:34Well, buddy, thanks for sending that new D11 down here, because if we got any shot of getting this done,
14:39it's going to be with that machine.
14:40It's just, this thing's more fodder for the frozen mud.
14:44It'll be beat to in no time.
14:49Parker is taking the first shift in the new D11.
14:53There's nothing moving as much dirt right now as this brand new D11 with that big old blade on it.
14:58It's really helping us out here.
15:00Hopefully it's going to get us to the finish line.
15:03This thing is pretty soon.
15:16That always feels good when Rick calls me to come up here.
15:21Hopefully I can help these guys out a little bit for the final push.
15:28All right, here we are.
15:32Buddy!
15:33What's going on?
15:34What's up, man? You made it?
15:35How are you doing?
15:36Yeah.
15:37Welcome back.
15:38Yeah.
15:39How's it going?
15:40Oh, man, that's a whole different story.
15:42Yeah?
15:42It's this time of year, man.
15:44You know, everybody's tired.
15:45Oh, yeah.
15:45Everyone's ornery.
15:46Everybody's ornery, but they'll be happy to see you, and we sure as hell could use an extra set of
15:49hands.
15:50Where are you at now?
15:51We're not even at 700.
15:52Barely over 600.
15:55So, yeah, we're a long ways off.
15:57But we're back in Vegas Valley.
15:58Okay.
15:59Pulling some good pay out of there.
16:01Let's hop in the little Hilux here and go take a look.
16:07All right, let's go take the tour, buddy.
16:12Rick Ness' season is finally turning a corner.
16:16After two months with no gold coming in, last week Rick fired up Monster Red and pulled out over 200
16:25ounces from Vegas Valley.
16:27Holy .
16:28That's a big cut.
16:31Yeah, it's pretty impressive, eh?
16:33For a seven-man crew.
16:35You guys moved some dirt.
16:37We know it's good pay in Vegas Valley, for sure.
16:39We're going to get on a roll here now.
16:41The last thing up was good.
16:42We need them to be a little bit better, but I know they're going to be.
16:45We just need to get a few more hours on the sluice box, you know?
16:48Well, nothing like setting a fire to everything the last three weeks and trying to pull it out.
16:53Oh, yeah.
16:53One way or another, this place is going to be on fire when I leave, so.
16:59Anyways, enough chitchat.
17:01You want to help out?
17:02Yeah.
17:05To hit his 1,800-ounce gold and pay his crew their bonus, Rick needs record-breaking 400-ounce gold
17:14hauls every week for the rest of the season.
17:18It's that final push.
17:20This is when you kind of need that extra little boost of energy.
17:23This pivot from Valhalla back into Vegas Valley, I think it's going to be a good thing.
17:26We know there's good gold in there, and, you know, Bailey's just going to have to get every last ounce
17:30out of that cut.
17:33I think people are getting tired.
17:36I think people are missing, uh, home.
17:39As it stands right now, I don't think anyone's getting a bonus.
17:42Even though we've got pay right here and we're finally got the plant fired up, you know, I don't like
17:46to be the negative Nancy, but I don't see 1,800 coming.
17:53Hey, Rick, you got a copy?
17:55Yeah, go for Rick.
17:56I kind of got a big problem in the cut. Could you come down here?
17:59I'll see, uh, see you in a few minutes.
18:10Putting in some work here.
18:13Yeah, man.
18:15I see the problem, though.
18:16Yeah.
18:18It didn't, it didn't take long.
18:22I thought, uh, maybe it was going to take longer, but we're moving along really too quick, I guess.
18:29Vegas Valley is almost out of pay dirt, much earlier than Rick expected.
18:35So imagine, like, cleaning that all out, like, it'd be a week.
18:39Yeah, we're definitely going to need some more.
18:44Yeah.
18:45I'd say the only thing we can do is try to expand.
18:51What?
18:52It's not ideal. It's not this time of year, it's not ideal.
18:54But really, I'm looking at this piece right here.
18:56I mean, that's pay right there and we're staring at it.
18:58Yeah, I know.
18:59You don't seem very excited about it.
19:00Yeah, I just see all this.
19:02It's 40 feet down of material you have to move to get to the pay.
19:07Yep.
19:08At the bottom of Vegas Valley, Bailey only has a week's worth of pay.
19:14To keep Monster Red fed for the rest of the season, Rick wants to chase Vegas Valley's pay streak upstream.
19:23The only problem, Bailey will have to dig down a further 40 feet to hit the gold-rich pay.
19:31All before winter freezes them out.
19:35One way or another, we've got to make it till the end of the season.
19:37I know, I know.
19:38If we're still going to get to 1,800 ounces, that's the only way we're going to do it.
19:41I don't know, man.
19:43What have we got left?
19:46Three weeks?
19:47Maybe more, maybe less, but it's around there.
19:53I just think in three weeks, that's...
19:56We'll make it happen.
19:58You just keep the trucks going.
19:59Is it going to be worth it for a week's worth of pay?
20:03Yep.
20:04If it gets us 400 ounces, yeah.
20:07Okay.
20:07Definitely.
20:12We're not at 1,800 ounces, but at the end of the day, I'm trying to make sure these guys
20:17go home with gold in their pockets, and that's all there is to it.
20:20I'm just really worried with the time that we have and how much work's going to be done, and I
20:26don't think it's going to work out, but I hope it does.
20:29Maybe, you know, in another week, my mind will change, but right now, it's very stressful.
20:49I'm going to go start up Harold and start running it with these two new people that I just recently
20:54hired, Brett and Taylor.
20:55Mike Beetz is starting a new shift.
20:59Hopefully, it all goes well, and they can run 1,000 yards today.
21:03And needs his crew to sluice 1,000 yards a day to help hit Tony's 1,000-ounce target for
21:11the week.
21:13I don't see how they can it up, but I've been proven wrong before.
21:21Morning.
21:22How's it going?
21:23Well, my dad wants to do 1,000 yards on this thing.
21:26If you go on the hoe, you go on the other hoe.
21:29Right on.
21:31When they're a couple, they generally work well together, and then it's nice for them because they have a loved
21:36one nearby.
21:37But it also has the negative that if one decides they want to quit, you usually lose both.
21:48First bucket's in.
21:50We're running.
21:51All right.
21:53999 more buckets to go.
21:55Local operators Brent Nybecker and Taylor Olsen have answered the call for end-of-season workers.
22:03Like, I've run lots of wash plants before.
22:04Never went on a mines like this big.
22:07It's really cool, yeah.
22:10Taylor is on the Hester Cuts pay pile, where she loads rock trucks.
22:15I've been mining for about six years, and I normally load trucks or strip cuts down to pay.
22:23And I've also ran plants as well.
22:26The gold-rich pay is dumped next to Brent, who loads it into Harold's hopper.
22:31We actually met at a mine.
22:34We've been together pretty much since.
22:36She's the greatest, yeah.
22:38It's really good.
22:39We don't have many problems at work at all.
22:42She can get a little bit frustrated, but that's okay, because we're here to support each other.
22:57Slow.
22:58Slow.
22:59I'm going to have to speed that up.
23:00I want to get through all that ground.
23:07And it looks like there's a lot of rocks coming off your plant now, hey?
23:12Yeah, so Mike has come down here and turned up the speed.
23:17They're really going to have to hustle to keep up.
23:19It's already empty, just from talking to you.
23:22Okay, copy that, and I will keep them coming.
23:28With the increased speed, Brent needs to load four buckets a minute to keep the hopper full.
23:35I literally can't even take a drink or have a bite of a sandwich.
23:40But he's barely managing three.
23:45Oh, .
23:48Just back me up to where you want me.
23:49Okay.
23:51Yeah, looking good. Straight back.
23:54Good there.
23:57In the amount of time it took you to dump the truck, the plant went empty.
24:00Yeah, that's a lot faster.
24:02You can't feed that fast.
24:04Bro, I haven't slowed down.
24:05I'm on full throttle, stacking as high as I can.
24:08Go ahead.
24:12You can have to come over and run the plant.
24:14You can't come up with this base like I can fix it possible.
24:17At least come run it for a minute.
24:20Copy that.
24:29Hi, babe.
24:30Hey you.
24:41I'm going at my max capacity just to keep up, which it was okay for an hour, but I can't
24:47do that for 12 hours straight.
24:49The hopper's full.
24:51Yeah, it's great.
24:53You can keep that up all day for 12 hours?
24:55I'm already, I think so.
24:56Okay.
25:02Brent found it a little bit stressful to have to keep up with the plant while I'm with it running
25:06this fast.
25:07But I am happy to run it at this pace.
25:10I have more hours feeding plants.
25:12I used to be the night shift plant operator for about four years, so I'm pretty fast at grabbing the
25:18dirt and getting it into the hopper.
25:24How's it going in there?
25:26That's good, yeah.
25:27I'll just keep it as full as I can here if you can keep the pay coming.
25:32I want to see if we can get our wash plant going.
25:34Hey, that would be amazing.
25:38Yeah, we were gold mining.
25:40I did two seasons and did pretty good the first year.
25:46And not so good the second year.
25:48I lost a lot of money.
25:49I guess I like had that gold fever.
25:52We kind of ran out of gold where we were, so I started digging a hole.
25:57And then I ran out of money.
26:04Hey, this is our last bucket.
26:08Woo!
26:08Hang on, baby!
26:10Hell yeah!
26:18Hello!
26:19Hey!
26:20Well, we made her through.
26:22Got her a thousand yards through.
26:24So how'd the shift go?
26:26A few problems, but we swapped out, so we got through here.
26:30Sometimes it's nice to swap out and get a break for the one job, right?
26:33Yeah, it is.
26:35It's good to see Brent and Taylor got it done.
26:38I wasn't called down here for any major problems, so it went well.
26:42And we're just going to hopefully keep it going until the end of the season.
26:47After waiting 40 years to mine it.
26:50We'll just take a little bit out of the riffle here and just see what we've got.
26:55Tony is keen to see if the Hester Cut has the gold to get him over 1,000 ounces this
27:02week.
27:03Find a bit of water, Mike.
27:04Let's have a look at this pan, okay?
27:13See how much gold is in there, guys?
27:14Yeah.
27:15There's quite a bit of gold in there, by the way.
27:17You can see it all through the pan.
27:18You see that?
27:20It's amazing.
27:21That'd be interesting to see what comes out of that.
27:25Okay, we're out here.
27:28It's actually more than I expected, but there's like every other thing.
27:32On the end of the day, clean it up, dry it, and then weigh it,
27:37and then you know exactly what you've got.
27:47Right now there's just a lot going on here at Dominion.
27:50We're at that point in the season where everyone's just kind of in their spot, in their seat,
27:55and it's a matter of just keeping things going.
27:57At Parker's main operation on Dominion Creek, Foreman Tyson Lee is in charge of three wash plants.
28:05The Golden Goose and Big Red in the Golden Mile, and Bob in the Bridge Cut.
28:12We still have a lot of sluicing to do.
28:14We're still a ways off 10,000 ounces, and we just got to keep things going in the direction they're
28:20going in right now.
28:21Okay, Tyson, you got a copy?
28:24Yep, go ahead.
28:25I got a bunch of hay piling up on the plant hopper here.
28:29I might need you to take a look at it for me.
28:31Okay, I'm on my way.
28:33Thanks, dude.
28:39Looks like it's piling up quite high up here, so I'm just going to try and clear it here.
28:48What the s*** going on?
28:50The hopper chain drive system on wash plant Bob should push all of the pay towards the shaker deck.
28:58It's not clearing, which isn't good.
29:00If the pile of pay reaches the feed conveyor, it could tear the belt.
29:05You know, I've just tried moving our hopper chain system, and it's not working.
29:08It's kind of binding up, so got to get it fixed up.
29:19Hi, buddy.
29:20Hey, Bill.
29:21I would say that I skipped a tooth on the sprocket on one side.
29:24So now you're trying to twist a steel bar around a corner as it goes around instead of rolling nice
29:32and flat around.
29:33Yeah.
29:33Now you're going to have to shut this thing down.
29:41We're feeling pretty confident that it's just the chain has jumped a link on the one side, so we ought
29:46to empty the pre-wash.
29:48And then hopefully we can get the link to go back into place, and then the bars will be parallel
29:54to go over the sprockets.
30:01Okay.
30:02Going backwards.
30:04Try and roll the chain backwards.
30:07Whoa.
30:10Liam.
30:11The issue is the sprockets are .
30:15This could be a major deal.
30:28This time of year, it always gets difficult.
30:31You know, crew's tired.
30:32Plants are tired.
30:33Just got to keep these wash plants running.
30:36At Dominion Creek, a broken hopper chain drive system means wash plant Bob is down.
30:43It didn't jump the link like we thought it did originally.
30:46The sprockets are completely wore out.
30:49So we need new sprockets, two new sprockets, my friend, and you'll be back in business.
30:57Wash plant Bob's hopper chain drive is driven by two 10-inch sprockets.
31:03Over time, the sprockets' teeth have become worn, causing them to slip and stop moving the chain forward.
31:12Bill's plan?
31:13Split the chain, remove the old worn-out sprockets, and replace them with new ones.
31:29These are cat-like reflexes.
31:33Oh, safe as a church.
31:35Hydraulics on.
31:37Okay, go a little bit in reverse.
31:39A little bit in reverse.
31:42Whoa, whoa.
31:43Your other reverse.
31:44Other reverse.
31:49Jeez, look how brittle that is.
31:52It's so worn out.
31:53Nasty.
31:54Chain split.
31:56Sprockets are off.
31:57So we just got to install these new sprockets, and then we're all set.
32:10Everything's tight.
32:11We're good to go.
32:12Okay, sprockets are in, so now we'll get Liam to turn the hydraulics on.
32:22Whoa.
32:22Whoa.
32:27Okay, stop.
32:32I have one pin in.
32:36I'm well done.
32:37I'm going for ice cream.
32:40We're gonna fire this thing up and try it and see how it turns.
32:43Ready, Bill?
32:44Yep.
32:50Super happy to see it working.
32:52Hopefully there won't be anything to stop the conveyor from working for the rest of the season here.
32:58Well, should we fire her back up?
33:00If we're gonna catch up, we gotta put dirt through the plant, right?
33:03Alrighty.
33:06After four hours downtime, Bob is back in the game, sluicing bridge cut pay.
33:15It looks good.
33:16We don't have much time left in the season, so hopefully that's it for downtime.
33:21You're at the bridge cut.
33:32100 miles east.
33:35Haven't really thought too much of the extension or how we're gonna do it.
33:39The Ness crew need 400 ounces of gold a week in order to hit Rick's 1,800-ounce target.
33:47Bailey is mining out the last of the pay from the Vegas Valley cut.
33:52I'm trying not to think about it till I get this Vegas Valley cleaned out, then we'll move on to
33:58that.
34:01Holy .
34:02Who's sifting this?
34:03At Monster Red, Rick's best buddy, Z, is jumping into the hot seat to load the plant.
34:11I still got it.
34:12I still f***ing got it.
34:14While mechanic Ryan Kent uses a second loader to clear the tailings.
34:20Well, Z, it's good to see you back. How's it feel to be back?
34:23I mean, how couldn't you like it up here? Look around.
34:26This is like the best office view in the world.
34:29Why do you keep coming back?
34:31I mean, it's like the second family up here for me.
34:34I always come up in the beginning and the end, but the amount of dirt you guys moved this year
34:38is pretty substantial.
34:40You don't want to be here for the grunt work, do you?
34:42Listen, if that was the case, you probably shouldn't tell anyone.
34:46Let's keep it between us.
34:49Yeah, here's Secret Safe with me on Channel One.
34:55Oh, .
34:57What's the matter, Ryan?
34:59I don't know. Give me a sec.
35:07Hey, Z, shut that feeder off real quick, dude.
35:11All right, all right.
35:23You're missing a pin somewhere.
35:25Where'd you find it?
35:27I literally saw it bounce off, hit the tailing chute, landed right on the top of the bucket when I
35:31was coming out.
35:31I knew I should have stayed in the truck.
35:33Yep.
35:34Let's figure out where the he came from.
35:37Hey, Z!
35:38Yeah?
35:39Yeah?
35:39Yeah, it's over here.
35:40Oh, this ought to be fun.
35:43The two-inch pin that connects the grizzly bars to the feeder's hinge has broken in half.
35:49I don't want to take a chance and break this feeder, doing any damage, better off trying to get the
35:54fixed.
35:54You lose this grizzly bar, then you lose the rest of the season.
35:58We gotta go find one.
36:01The grizzly bar's old pin is too worn out to reuse, so the guys search for a replacement.
36:09A second hopper feeder.
36:13Because we were using a mozzarella.
36:14I bet you it is the same.
36:17Man, this thing is .
36:19I've got to climb up there and measure it.
36:22I'm getting too fat for this .
36:25It's two-inch.
36:26Is it?
36:26That will work.
36:28Now we've got to get it out.
36:29Yeah.
36:30We don't have a ladder anywhere, huh?
36:32No.
36:32You want to stand on my shoulders?
36:36I'm sturdy.
36:38This pin looks like it is in there.
36:41Oh, it moved.
36:42Shut up.
36:43It moved.
36:45Oh, baby.
36:46Oh .
36:48Watch where it goes.
36:50I need that.
36:51Oh, no.
36:52It went down the well.
36:53Oh, Timmy.
36:55Let's go put the new pin in.
36:59I'm sure you had a bunch of fixes this year.
37:01Was this the easiest one?
37:02This is by far the easiest one.
37:03Well, we're not done yet.
37:04Dude, it's just been a weird season.
37:06You know, it's been tough.
37:08We all come up here to work for gold.
37:10That's the whole reason we come up here.
37:13And to put in six months away from home and your family and your business
37:16and not go home with much or anything, that's killer, man.
37:21It's tough.
37:22I know you got a lot of at home.
37:24You're the same with me, wife, daughter.
37:25I don't need to tell you about how hard it is.
37:29Rachel tearing up about, you know, me not being home.
37:32And she takes on a ton, dude.
37:34Oh, yeah.
37:34And it's like, do I just stay home next year?
37:38I don't want to let Rick down, but I also don't want to let my family down.
37:41No.
37:41So let's focus on small steps.
37:45Let's focus on getting this pin in and get back running.
37:47Yeah.
37:48And then we have all off season to figure this out.
37:57You can't touch this one.
37:58Why?
37:59Because it's MC Hammer.
38:03I think it's 20 pounds.
38:06Yep.
38:06Don't hit me in the face.
38:11No.
38:13No.
38:14That one felt solid.
38:15It went.
38:15It moved.
38:17It moved.
38:19You want me to do the last one?
38:21One more.
38:22Ready?
38:22Uh-huh.
38:24That's it.
38:25All right.
38:27Pin it in.
38:28Pin it to win it.
38:31Now you can tell Rick what you did.
38:33I didn't do it.
38:35I just happened to be here.
38:37I just happened to be here.
38:37I did.
38:39Time to fire back up.
38:41Ryan and Zeke have lost just two hours of sluicing and are back in the race to hit the 400
38:48ounces Rick needs this week.
38:51It sucks having to plant down for a few hours, but I feel a lot better having to pin in
38:56there.
39:09Is there a thousand ounces in there?
39:11Oh, way more than a thousand.
39:14Hey Z.
39:15Hey.
39:15Good having you back.
39:16It's good to be back as always.
39:18Is anybody else happy about that?
39:19You're the best part of the end of the year, man.
39:21A happy ending?
39:26We got more gold to come out of Vegas Valley, but not much, eh?
39:28What do you figure?
39:2920 feet?
39:3020 feet left.
39:31Then that will give us a week, maybe?
39:32Yeah.
39:34So that's not a lot, but we have to open up a bit of another cut.
39:37We do not know anything about this until we dig into it.
39:40Well, I do know that if we don't do it, we're not going to get any more gold.
39:43I know.
39:44So, you know, and I know you know that.
39:46And it's just, it's a rough thing to do at the end of the season, but we need more gold,
39:49right?
39:49We do.
39:49Speaking of that, let's see how much we have to add to that.
39:53To hit his goal of 1,800, Rick needs 400 ounces a week.
39:59That's 100 right there.
40:02That's another 200 right there.
40:04Yeah.
40:05And this is another big .
40:09You ready, buddy?
40:11All right, let's do it.
40:12All right, there we go.
40:13I'm going to blow away the wind.
40:15Oh, 20, 30, 50, 70, 90, 100, 120.
40:24Wow.
40:25133.54.
40:27Nice.
40:28So that is 433.54.
40:32Worth $1.6 million, Rick's decision to pivot back to Vegas Valley has paid out big, delivering
40:41Rick's best ever gold way.
40:44Nice.
40:44Yeah.
40:45That puts us over 1,000.
40:46A couple more like that.
40:47We're good, right?
40:48We're almost there.
40:48We're so close, you know?
40:51Bring it in.
40:52All right, guys.
40:52Let's do it.
40:54Cheers.
40:55Cheers, fellas.
40:56Yeah.
40:56Yeah.
40:57Check it back.
40:59Check it back.
41:01When I left in spring, I hadn't seen any gold yet, so to come back now at the end and
41:07see
41:07a gold way like that, 400-some ounces, it's a great start to the final push.
41:15That is a big number, and man, do we need it.
41:17I'm so proud of these guys.
41:18They work so hard, and we need a lot more, but we know the gold's down there.
41:22We're going to have to pivot.
41:23We're going to run out of Vegas Valley gold, but we've got a good spot to go to, and I
41:26know
41:27these guys got it in them.
41:28We just need a little luck.
41:38Is he hearing blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, nacho?
41:42Blah, blah, nacho.
41:43Food.
41:43Where does he?
41:44He hears food, nacho.
41:46Yeah.
41:46Oh, yay.
41:48How are things down at Kenny Stewart's?
41:50It's busy now with all that stripping going on, but we're a lot better with that new D11,
41:55I'll tell you that.
41:55That thing's sick.
41:56Ugh.
41:57Parker needs 1,058 ounces to hit his 10,000-ounce season target.
42:04All right, Chris.
42:06You ready?
42:06Show us some gold.
42:07All right.
42:09So this is a bridge cut.
42:10Let's see how Bob did this week.
42:12Yeah.
42:13Wash plant Bob is averaging 145 ounces a week.
42:17Here we go.
42:19We've got 40, 100, 140, 174.2.
42:30Nice.
42:31Well, that's nice.
42:31That's good.
42:32Picked yourself up a bit.
42:34Yeah.
42:35Golden Mile.
42:37Two plants.
42:37So this is Goose and Big Red.
42:40Yeah.
42:41All righty.
42:42Let's see how the two plants did.
42:43Last week, the Golden Mile delivered 330 ounces.
42:4840, 80, 140, 220.
42:57Are we going to break three?
42:59302.25.
43:03Nice.
43:04Just broke 300.
43:06That's Goose paying itself off.
43:08We got good old Roxanne, right?
43:10All right.
43:11Ready?
43:11We did a lot of dozing this week and a lot of solution.
43:13Let's see what we got.
43:14Since being in pit two at Kenan Stewart's, Roxanne has averaged 141 ounces a week.
43:22And we got 30, 70, 100, 120, 150.8.
43:35Nice.
43:36Not bad.
43:37Not bad.
43:38That is a solid week.
43:40Last week, we had 548.55.
43:44This week, 627.25.
43:49Worth $2.3 million.
43:52Wicked.
43:53Yeah.
43:54That's bad.
43:54Good week.
43:55Our season total, 9,569.45.
44:01That's nice.
44:02Nice.
44:03Nice.
44:04We're roughly four and a half away from our goal, you guys.
44:07Another week like that and we'll have her.
44:09Yeah.
44:10Yeah.
44:11That's sick.
44:11Keep them running.
44:12That's a hell of a result.
44:13We got this.
44:15Oh, yeah.
44:15Yeah.
44:16Oh, yeah.
44:16Get out there, you guys.
44:27So, Mike, how's the Hester card going?
44:29How's Harold?
44:30Um, literally, it's just two people shut the up and go, right?
44:34Yeah.
44:34Cool.
44:35And they've been doing pretty good.
44:36The trommel has been running pretty good this week, too.
44:39It's been going nonstop.
44:40So, how about you?
44:41Hey, running 24-7, banging away, doing excellent.
44:44And we're down there.
44:46We're going to go to the .
44:47I mean, we've never sluiced this much in our life.
44:51Nope.
44:51Nope.
44:51Should we weigh some gold?
44:52For the first time ever, Tony is running two wash plants at the Indian River and two
44:59plants at Paradise Hill.
45:00Together, he's hoping they will deliver a record-breaking 1,000-ounce haul.
45:06All right.
45:07This is for Sluice-A-Lot.
45:09Let's do it.
45:10Let's see what's going to happen here.
45:1230, 40.
45:13Sluice-A-Lot and Find-A-Lot have been running in the corner cut nonstop all week.
45:19200, 220, 230, 238.20.
45:27That's not too bad.
45:28No, that's pretty good.
45:29That's not bad.
45:31Oh, there you go.
45:33Let's go.
45:34So, which one is this?
45:35Find-A-Lot.
45:37Find-A-Lot.
45:37Find-A-Lot.
45:37Are you ready?
45:38Sure am.
45:39Good.
45:40There you go.
45:4140, 60, 100, 140, 180, 200.
45:50217.54.
45:52Total so far, 456 ounces.
45:56Nice little haul.
45:58Bingo.
45:58I think so.
46:00Nothing wrong with that.
46:01Okay.
46:02Next one.
46:02Let's see what more we can get.
46:04Trommel.
46:0730, 70, 90.
46:08The trommel has been sluicing super pit pay.
46:11150, 160, 170, 180, 200.
46:15You'll never make it as an auctioneer, friend.
46:18220, 230, 260, 290, 310, 320, 340, 370, 380, 390, 410, 420.
46:25Go on once.
46:27Go on twice.
46:28Go on once.
46:31Sold.
46:32To me.
46:32Yoink.
46:34423.92.
46:37Trommel's doing his job.
46:38Well, that's pretty nice.
46:40Yeah.
46:40But you're on the volume too.
46:42So, hello.
46:43And we're not finished yet.
46:44We have one more to do.
46:46It would be nice to see what came out of Harold.
46:47It may be a long time coming.
46:49I looked at that property for 40 years.
46:51To hit Tony's 1,000-ounce weekly goal, Harold and the Hester Cut need to deliver 121 ounces.
47:0330, 50, 70, 90, 100, 120, 130, 3.5.
47:10Yo!
47:10So?
47:13At 1,013 ounces, this is Tony's biggest ever gold way, worth a staggering 3.7 million dollars.
47:23That's a lot of money, Beetz.
47:24Yep.
47:25Okay.
47:26Very nice.
47:27So, the bar?
47:29Let's see if we can spend it there tonight, Mike.
47:32Holy...
47:34The Beetz family are now only 300 ounces behind the Schnabel crew.
47:40It's all coming up, Tony Beetz.
47:42Oh, boy.
47:44Let's stick to it.
47:45Let's keep on going.
47:47Bye, guys.
47:48Just f*** off?
47:50Pretty much.
47:52Four plans running.
47:54Our biggest gold way ever.
47:55All the stuff we bought, all the things we did to get ready, paid up.
48:01Paid up big time.
48:02All right.
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