- 15 hours ago
Gold Rush: Freddy Dodges Mine Rescue - Season 5 - Episode 04: The Goldy Locks
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:12Oh, we have a tremendous case of gold fever. It's bad.
00:20Gold is at the highest price it's ever been, and so it's an absolutely real reason to be out here.
00:26Gold fever is a real thing.
00:30Hold on, Christine. Something's going on with the water. Okay, coffee.
00:35Freddie, Wano, we really, really could use your help.
00:39With every fix that we come up with, it creates three more problems.
00:45We should have left the plant the way it was.
00:49Each season in passing, it's getting worse.
00:54If we can't increase our gold recovery, make this work this year, then I think we're done.
01:02This will be it. This will be it.
01:09Freddie Dodge.
01:10I'd rather have gold in the bank than gold in the mountain.
01:13And Juan Ibarra.
01:14Not bad for built in the field.
01:16Want to make you rich.
01:18It turns your dream out here into a reality.
01:22In the past five years, the value of gold has doubled.
01:26There's a $3,000 nugget right there.
01:28But rookie miners find it more elusive than ever.
01:34If we don't recover more gold, then we could lose everything.
01:38But there is hope.
01:40Miracles that do happen.
01:42To turn desperation into fortune.
01:45Freddie and Juan have one week.
01:47What you just did.
01:48This genius.
01:49To deliver a golden payday.
01:51They have a future and they know what they need to do.
02:03I'd take a fudge nut parfait.
02:05All right.
02:07Let me do a brownie delight.
02:11Good call on the ice cream, Freddie.
02:13Melting quick, Juan.
02:16Look at that view, Freddie.
02:18That's pretty, Juan.
02:19Yeah.
02:20We got to be really close to the Grand Canyon from here, huh, Fred?
02:23The old timers hit this, so it was definitely gold here.
02:27Do you know when the first prospectors got in here?
02:29The old, old timers was 1880s.
02:31That's cool.
02:32Well, should we go see the gals?
02:34Let's do it.
02:38Freddie and Juan are en route to the Chicks with Picks Claims,
02:42owned by Jamie Deanna and Christine Cernick,
02:46who in the last two years have spent thousands of dollars on a new wash plant
02:50to turn their hobby mind into a professional operation.
02:58The hostile desert conditions and lack of water slowed down the first wave of stampeders in the 1880s.
03:06But those who were hardy enough recovered over 13,000 ounces of gold,
03:11worth nearly $30 million in today's money.
03:16Now, with gold at a staggering $2,300 an ounce,
03:21Freddie and Juan have one week to decode this operation and turn it around.
03:31Well, hello.
03:32Hello.
03:33Hi, ladies.
03:33Welcome, gentlemen.
03:34How you doing?
03:34Hi there.
03:35Good. How are you doing?
03:36Hi, Juan. Nice to meet you.
03:37Nice to meet you.
03:38Well, let me ask you ladies a question.
03:41What got you into gold mining?
03:43Basically, since COVID.
03:45COVID started everything.
03:46Yep.
03:47I am a hairdresser for about 20 years.
03:50When COVID hit with the, you know, mandated shutdowns, we were part of it.
03:56Jamie's business shut down, mine was doing nothing, you know, and we said we need to get outside.
04:03Christine's father, he's had this property for over 30 years.
04:09He started talking about gold.
04:11He was considering selling it, and we said, wait a minute.
04:16And when we really found out how much gold is out here, we decided that we wanted to purchase it
04:23all.
04:24The idea of a treasure hunt, to me, was like, oh, yes, let's do this.
04:35We knew right there we had gold fever.
04:38This is the place we want to be.
04:40We want to mine gold.
04:41So, we said, we're going to give it a go.
04:43We both have enough experience in business and production and figuring things out.
04:49We're, we're girl MacGyvers.
04:51With gold fevers set in, they invested in a professional setup.
04:56Hi.
04:58Hi.
05:00Hi.
05:01We're, we're going to move on to the next episode of the R.A.,
05:01And we're going to give him another challenge.
05:03Two years ago, I got diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis.
05:06And sometimes cripples me to the point where I can't get out of bed in the morning.
05:11Rheumatoid arthritis, or R.A., is a degenerative autoimmune disease that attacks the joints.
05:18Christine tries to muscle through and a lot of times people don't even realize
05:23she is as sick as she is, you know.
05:34It's just really sad to watch her suffer. To see Freddie and Juan here, it feels like the
05:42Calvary is here. There's hope that we can turn this around because I can't do it on my own. I
05:50just, I can't.
05:54Unfortunately, I take a medicine twice a month that is thousands of dollars and we really need
05:59help to find more gold to get that stuff taken care of because, you know, it's stressful.
06:04Absolutely. I can see that. It makes it very hard for her physically. So to help alleviate some of
06:10that manual labor, that would be fantastic. Understood. Now, how long have you guys been
06:16running this year so far? We've been out here, what, like eight weeks? Between eight to ten weeks,
06:24so a little two and a half months. So what kind of money do you have invested into this? It's
06:28about
06:28$150,000. Okay. This is the type of gold that we have here. Well, that's some pretty gold,
06:37but mainly fines, huh? Yes. Our first season was pretty decent, especially being the first season.
06:43How many ounces did you do? We did 10 ounces. Okay. That's not bad. The second season wasn't as good.
06:50We did about five ounces and this year we've barely done over an ounce. Really?
06:58What's your goal for this year? We would love to be at 50 ounces this year. This is the goal
07:03that we want to be able to
07:04run at. And that's before summer runs you out? That's what we're shooting for. So you got about
07:0850 days left then? Yep. Yes. Yes, absolutely. The Arizona season runs from October through to June,
07:16as monsoons and extreme heat make summer mining impossible. It takes a special breed of person to
07:23be out here in the desert. Christine and Jamie, they've worked their their butts off to do what they've done
07:28here and the time they've done it. But at the same time, these ladies did 10 ounces the first year,
07:34and now they've got a target goal of 50 ounces. So whether that can be done or not, I don't
07:40know.
07:40So tell us about the plant. All right, right this way.
07:47That's the funky gold machina from Canada.
07:50Jamie and Christine have invested $30,000 in a water run trommel, adding their own bush fixes to
07:58try and increase efficiency. So the mining standard out in this area is typically dry washing because of
08:08the lack of water and having to have it trucked in. But we have found that with the type of
08:15pay dirt that
08:16we have, it really is more beneficial to use water as opposed to dry washing.
08:22That's a good thing. If you know what your ground is, that determines what you need for a wash plant,
08:27right? So you guys made a good decision there. Okay, good. Thank you for that.
08:31Well, you're ready to do a test run, ladies? Let's do it.
08:38Fire it up.
08:49Here we go. First bucket going in.
08:55Four hour run, right? Yeah. Okay.
08:58Peter, in Jamie and Christine's wash plant, is fed through a four-foot hopper into a double trommel
09:06called the reverse helix. Rocks are washed in the inner drum, known as a scrubber, and discarded from
09:14the back, while finer pay dirt drops into the outer drum. Here, corkscrew riffles push heavy gold-bearing
09:22material back into the sluices. To conserve water, the entire system is on a closed circuit,
09:29with wastewater returning to the pond to be pumped back to the plant.
09:35That helix trouble, if you look, all that material is bouncing right past the spray bar.
09:39Yeah. A lot of material that should be cleaned and being sluiced, and it's coming right out of the
09:45end of that trommel. That's not much of a spray bar.
09:50I just want to look at it and see how much of the fines were missing.
09:54Uh-oh. Wano's over there checking our tailings. See him panning.
10:00So, look at all those fines right there. Almost every bit of that should have been sluiced.
10:05So, I'm going to pan that real quick and see if there's any color in it. If the plant isn't
10:09washing
10:09this gold-rich dirt off the rocks and into the sluice box, Christine and Jamie are losing gold.
10:17One sizable piece. So, you know, that doesn't seem like a whole lot, but over a full day running,
10:21you know, that could be 20, 30 pieces. So, that, it adds up quick.
10:29Oh, I'm sure that they're looking at, uh, the lack of water flow to keep everything running.
10:36The problem is they got a three-inch pump, three-inch line, and it's going into a two-inch
10:42square tube to feed everything. They're restricting it right there at the beginning.
10:47Jamie and Christine have fitted a narrow pipe to their trommel as a bush fix, so it uses less water.
10:55Jamie's up there having with a hole all the time, and then we've got the material coming
10:59down here. It's manual labor to get it down. But by using less water, they need to rely on
11:06friend Greg to help keep the plant running. It's a lot of hard work. But, um, yes, these girls, I
11:15love them.
11:17Well, when you have a plant like this, you should be able to run it with just one person.
11:21So, it's a very labor-intensive plant.
11:28There it is. Last bucket.
11:30Yep.
11:30Hey, Christine! Last bucket!
11:32Okay. Well, it is what it is. We'll see.
11:40I'm going to shut the trommel off. You go ahead and shut the water.
11:52Ladies, if you want to get it cleaned up.
11:54Sounds good. Sounds good. Thank you.
11:56I saw a lot of head nodding that, you know, like, hmm, I don't know about this.
12:04Not sure about this, sure.
12:05A lot of eye contact between the two of them. It's a little unsettling because it's not an eye contact,
12:11like, way to go.
12:13Hey, yeah.
12:14I think it's great.
12:14You're killing it.
12:16We're just not the give up kind of people. You know, we want to push forward and make people see
12:21that this,
12:22this industry can be handled by anybody.
12:39Well, curious to see how much gold's in it, Juan.
12:42Yeah.
12:43In northern Arizona...
12:45Hi, ladies.
12:46Hi.
12:47...female miners Jamie and Christine have the gold ready to weigh from their first test run.
12:53Weigh it up, huh, Juan?
12:54Quick question. What's that scale about?
12:57My dad, he gave this to us. He said, I want you to use the scale to weigh your first
13:03100 ounces.
13:04That's cool.
13:05Yeah.
13:05Yeah.
13:06Christine's dad, Bill, began hobby dry washing on the claim in the 90s.
13:11When we told my dad that we were interested in being out here, as soon as he saw the operation,
13:16it warmed my heart that he could believe in us that we would be able to do this.
13:22My dad passed away about five months ago.
13:26We just want to continue this legacy to be in the family for years to come.
13:33It's near and dear to me. It really is.
13:36Yeah, it's a little balance.
13:37Yeah.
13:38Yes.
13:39Well, moment of truth, guys.
13:41All right, here we go, moment of truth.
13:43To hit their season goal of 50 ounces and cover mining and medical expenses,
13:49this weigh needs to deliver half an ounce of gold from the four-hour test.
13:54Well, we're a little over a tenth of an ounce.
13:590.29, 0.30.
14:040.31.
14:05So, 0.31, yep.
14:08Almost a third of an ounce.
14:10Yeah.
14:14Getting a third of an ounce in four hours, it's decent, but it's not where you need to be.
14:19For you guys to hit your goal, you're going to have to just about double what you got there.
14:22Yes.
14:23Yes.
14:24Juan and myself will put our heads together and try to figure out
14:27some ways to make your plant more efficient.
14:29We would really appreciate that.
14:32Here's your golden.
14:33Thank you so much.
14:34We'll see you guys soon.
14:35All right.
14:36Thank you, guys.
14:39All right.
14:41You can only go for so long investing more money, more time, more labor,
14:47you know, not paying the bills.
14:49We really, really need to turn this thing around.
14:54They're a pleasure to work with.
14:55They both work really hard.
14:57They're passionate about what they're doing.
15:00But that plant is a bottleneck attached to another bottleneck attached to another bottleneck.
15:06The moment they fired it up, I'm like, they're dead in the water because they don't have enough
15:10water. So that's one of our main goals.
15:12There's a laundry list of things we can do there, Freddie, but I think we need to focus on what's
15:15going
15:15to give them the biggest bang for the buck.
15:17Yeah.
15:17Yep.
15:18No, I agree.
15:19So let's focus on water system, hopper, sluice box.
15:24Raise the hopper, fix the water, get them manifolds in there so they get the proper water into the
15:30plant.
15:31All right.
15:31Well, I like that.
15:32Let's do it.
15:33We got our work cut out for us.
15:35That's for sure.
15:36To reduce the pay dirt buildup at the front end of the trommel,
15:40Freddie and Juan will modify the four foot long hopper with adjustable legs as well as adding an
15:47additional spray bar so the pay can self-feed into the trommel. Christine and Jamie have inadvertently
15:55starved the plant of water. Freddie will increase the supply by building a distribution box known as a
16:04manifold. This will produce pressurized water for the new spray bar in the hopper and feed a spraying
16:11cross piece in the inner drum of the trommel. Finally, Juan will replace Jamie and Christine's
16:19makeshift sluice, upgrading to a custom-built one with carpet and riffles to improve gold recovery.
16:27I'm really hoping that that 50 ounce is not a pipe dream. That's a huge hill to climb.
16:32Yeah, I would agree with you, Juan.
16:52Hey, ladies. How are we doing? Good.
16:55So we kind of sat down and kind of figured up a game plan for you.
16:59Okay.
16:59What we're looking at is you don't have enough water to run the sluices that you have.
17:04Okay.
17:05And without that, your riffles are packing up, which doesn't allow the gold to find a home for itself,
17:12right? Absolutely.
17:13So we're going to work on the water system. We can see it's been messed with.
17:16It goes from a three-inch lay flat to a two-inch square. So you're restricting it right there,
17:21right off the get-go. Yes.
17:22So what Freddie wants to do, he wants to go in there and actually build you a manifold where you
17:25have valves to
17:26be able to turn on and off and adjust the flow to your sprayers.
17:29Get you some more water.
17:29Yeah. Oh, wow. Okay.
17:30And we're going to build you a new spray bar for the top of your hopper to eliminate, you know,
17:34you from being up there raking all day long. On top of that, we want to focus on your recovery
17:38as
17:39well. You know, the sluice box, it's basically a high banker box.
17:42That is what it is, a hobby box. So we can build you a new sluice.
17:45So we can actually get you closer to that 50 ounce skull that you need.
17:48Okay. That sounds amazing.
17:50But one of our big goals here is we need to find a new role for you, Christine, on this
17:56mine
17:56that does not involve a ton of manual labor.
18:00Okay.
18:01Which is why I'm going to take you prospecting and see what we can find for better ground.
18:07Wow. That's great.
18:08Okay.
18:08So between all of that, we kind of sat down and figured about $2,000 in material that we're going
18:13to have to
18:13get. Right.
18:15If we get you your double, then you pay just material. We're not charging you any labor,
18:19just strictly material. If we don't get you double, no charge.
18:24Even for the material.
18:25Yeah.
18:25Wow.
18:26We know you guys are in a tough spot here.
18:28With the medication that you need, it's a big financial strain on you guys. So we're happy to do it.
18:33Wow.
18:33That's great.
18:34Okay.
18:34Wow.
18:35That sounds wonderful.
18:36Yes.
18:36I could throw in a haircut.
18:38I don't really need one.
18:40I'd definitely throw in a haircut.
18:41I got a little left.
18:43Well, if you ladies are good with it, we're good with it.
18:45We'll get to work.
18:46All right, ladies, let's start.
18:47All right.
18:48All right.
18:50I had myself emotionally prepared for them to say, go back to cutting hair, just
18:58make your life easy.
18:59And so for it to be quite the opposite is, yeah, game changer.
19:14While Juan preps the steel for the new sluice box.
19:18Perfect.
19:20Freddy's first job is to get more water into the plant.
19:25One of the biggest issues Juan and myself seen when they were running is water issues.
19:31They don't have enough water. The problem is we've got a bottleneck right here. We've got a three-inch hose
19:36going into a piece of two-inch square tube. So it's just choking it. We're going to try to straighten
19:43that out.
19:45This square tube here is going to be our new manifold. We'll have this welded on the end of the
19:50square tube.
19:52We're going to come in with the water here. I'm going to cut and weld fittings on top of it
19:56here.
20:02Freddy's manifold has a large three-inch inlet to increase water pressure.
20:07A number of outlets then branch from the central tube to evenly distribute water around the plant.
20:14It's a system that should increase water volume by over 30 percent and get more yards of pay dirt
20:21through the plant.
20:25So just give me a hand mounting it here. Okay, absolutely. Getting it tacked on.
20:37Hopefully these fixes Juan and myself are doing are going to eliminate a bunch of your labor.
20:42Especially for Christine. Yeah. It's greatly appreciated and greatly needed.
20:47Thank you, lady.
20:50These ladies need to be able to run this plant without as much physical labor as they're doing,
20:54especially Christine. So a big part of this fix is going to be finding her a role where she's not
21:01hurting herself on a daily basis and they don't have to bring extra help in. So that's going to be
21:07a
21:07tough one, but I think it can be done.
21:32Morning on the chicks with picks mine.
21:36And with just 72 hours left on the build, Christine struggles with her condition.
21:41I think we're just to a point of where, you know, you just can't push your body like that.
21:49I think it's a great opportunity with Freddie and Juan being here to dive into more of the prospecting.
21:59Right. And I can spearhead the more intense physical side of it.
22:04I can be the Watson to Detective Dodge.
22:10Well, cheers to that. I don't know if he's going to buy it, but I say go for it.
22:17Time to get to work.
22:20Hey, Walt. Let's go get it.
22:22All right.
22:24I feel sad that I cannot do what I used to be able to do.
22:28But I really don't like to dwell on it.
22:31I'm about getting up, being as positive as I can.
22:34So with prospecting and research, there are so many things that I can do in the operation for our team.
22:49So what I'm doing here is I'm getting the sides of the new sluice box, uh, tacked in place.
22:54Juan's new sluice box will replace the old clogging sluice with an expanded steel riffle system to suck down heavy
23:02gold into the mats.
23:04Hey, Jamie, you want to give me a hand?
23:07Yeah, absolutely. I'd love to.
23:10Put this on first, and then you can put the gloves on.
23:13Okay.
23:15Wow, look at that.
23:17Ha-ha.
23:18You know, just by wearing that shirt makes you 20% a better welder.
23:21I'm in.
23:22Ha-ha-ha.
23:23Ha-ha-ha.
23:26With Christine and her situation, you know, you're doing a lot more of it yourself.
23:29Yes.
23:30You know, one thing Freddie and I always say, if you don't have a welder, fabricator, and a mechanic on
23:33site, you don't have a mine site.
23:35I would agree.
23:37You're going to strike it like it's a match, right?
23:39Real slow.
23:40I'll pull back, get a little puddle, then I'll push back into the puddle, come back, get a little puddle
23:44going.
23:45Okay.
23:45So you're just stacking. What you're doing is what you're stacking.
23:47Okay.
23:48Okay.
23:51Like that?
23:52Yeah.
23:54Get a little closer, get a little closer, get a little closer.
23:57There you go.
23:58Okay.
23:58Pull back, pull back, pull back, stop.
24:00So look at it right now.
24:01You see how hot that metal is?
24:03Oh, yeah, yeah.
24:03Okay.
24:03So you're long arcing it.
24:05Okay.
24:05The further you get away, the further that arc has to jump, and it'll actually start dissipating that heat amongst,
24:10you know, both pieces of steel, and it actually gets hotter.
24:13Okay.
24:13I see what you're saying.
24:14So you need to constantly keep your rod about that distance right there.
24:20Right.
24:20Okay.
24:20I gotcha.
24:28Don't worry.
24:28After we're done with this, you can teach me how to give a haircut.
24:31All right.
24:32I'm in.
24:34A little slower.
24:37Perfect.
24:39That was good.
24:40That was all you.
24:40That looks good.
24:41You're a great coach.
24:43Thank you so much.
24:46With everything that has happened with Christine, I am willing to step up and give 1,000% and make
24:56this a successful operation.
25:13Let's walk down here.
25:15On the other side of the claim.
25:18This is actually the most important thing.
25:20You can have the best wash plant in the world, but if you don't have the gold in the ground
25:25or if you're digging in the wrong spot, you know, you ain't gonna make it.
25:29Right.
25:30Freddie teaches Christine her new prospecting role on the mine.
25:35It's just really valuable for me to go out with Freddie and have him teach me these things directly so
25:40I can, you know, be a bigger part of that part of our operation.
25:46So that building up there is the old part of King Tut.
25:51Okay.
25:52The King Tut mine sits alongside a string of hard rock claims and was discovered in the 1930s by female
26:02ranch owner Ollie Duncan.
26:04The mine was soon bringing in hundreds of ounces of gold a week.
26:09You're right, kind of in the outwash of these mines.
26:12Gravity works.
26:13So when mountains erode, gold and gravel and rocks, they all go downhill.
26:18Okay.
26:18So that's the source for all the gold in these gullies.
26:21Oh, yeah, I see.
26:22Let's put our detective hats on here.
26:25If Christine and Freddie can find the stream beds or washes that run from the hard rock mines, they should
26:32find the gold.
26:33This drainage here, this drainage here, about one, two, three total drainages.
26:41We got these, you know, these streams coming together up top.
26:44We've got a stream going into that side.
26:46Right.
26:47Right.
26:47Another one.
26:48These two washes.
26:49And then these two come together right here.
26:52Right.
26:52So we've got double the amount of reworked material here.
26:55We're talking nature sluice box.
26:57So in theory, this should be the best gold right here under my feet.
27:03That's pretty amazing.
27:07But to get a true test on the ground, they call in the cavalry.
27:14That'll work.
27:15Get over a little bit.
27:20It'll give us an overall look of the material from the top down to the bottom.
27:33Sorry, you guys.
27:34You're getting dusted out.
27:45So if you dig into tailings, what is it?
27:47It's soft, right?
27:48Right.
27:49Everything's haphazard in the tailings.
27:51You can see that bottom layer?
27:53Yes, I can.
27:54See the course of rocks in it down there?
27:57Yes.
27:57You can see how hard that is?
27:58Uh-huh.
27:59Right?
27:59That means it's virgin.
28:01Right.
28:01That should be your best gold.
28:04Virgin means never before mined ground.
28:08A miner's holy grail.
28:11Well, let's see what kind of gold, if any, lives in this, huh?
28:16It's going to be a deciding factor for our future.
28:19Come on, ladies.
28:21Show up.
28:22Moment of truth, huh?
28:24Right.
28:30Look at that, guys.
28:32Holy cow.
28:43So we've got, you know, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven,
28:49the verdict is delivered on Freddy's newly prospected ground, just 200 yards from Christine and Jamie's
28:56current cut.
28:58There's 21 colors in the pan.
29:00Yeah, look at that.
29:03We know there's good color here.
29:05There's gold here, for sure.
29:10Finally, somebody has, I guess, verified that we are seeing what we're seeing.
29:18We're not making this up.
29:19I'm not out of my mind.
29:21It wasn't too many years in the salon sniffing fumes.
29:24You're not crazy, that's for sure.
29:27I appreciate that.
29:29Well, let me rephrase.
29:30You're not bat crazy.
29:31Just a little crazy.
29:32Just crazy enough to still be fun.
29:36Well, it's pretty exciting finding some good color fairly close to their plant.
29:40It's farther than they're digging now, but it's manageable, right?
29:46Let's dig some of this up and run it through the plant for the second test.
29:49All right.
29:49Sounds good.
29:52For him to teach us how to identify the virgin ground, that was all so valuable, really.
29:56I mean, we're going to look at prospecting way differently into the future.
30:16Hold up.
30:17Looking good, my friend.
30:19Nice looking sluice box, Juan.
30:21Thanks, ready?
30:23With just 48 hours left on the build.
30:26Fingers and toes.
30:27Juan's new sluice box is ready to be fixed to the plant.
30:32Right now, we've got a lot of stuff to get done and not a lot of time left to do
30:36it in.
30:36All we do now is just keep plugging away.
30:40Oh, you got it, Tammy?
30:41How are we looking there?
30:42Perfect.
30:44And with it, another master class from Professor Dodge.
30:48We're going to have just this indoor-outdoor carpet under these light ripples.
30:51Okay.
30:52It works better than the miner's moss.
30:55Artificial turf is followed by expanded metal,
30:59which creates a vortex in water that pulls down the heavy gold.
31:03So we'll put our middle wedges in first.
31:05Okay.
31:09We want those ripples tight into that carpet.
31:12If not, that water will get under those ripples,
31:14then it can help carry gold right out of the box.
31:16Okay.
31:17Another good thing about wood,
31:18when the wood gets wet, it even makes it tighter.
31:21Okay.
31:21It's like hydraulics in the wood.
31:23Natural hydraulics, right?
31:27This sluice box is ready to roll.
31:31This really is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
31:34to work with Freddy and Juan, building the sluices.
31:37It's something that, you know,
31:38you just can't put a price tag on it.
31:41We're running out of time,
31:42so we've got to just do whatever is right,
31:44but do it as quick as we can now.
31:46Playtime is over, Fred.
31:48That got real.
31:54We're going to bolt the spray bar down on top of this,
31:57hook a new water system up to it,
31:59and get a heck of a lot more water on those rocks,
32:02get the gold in the sluice box,
32:03not in the tailings pile.
32:05Eyeballs!
32:07As Freddy starts on the spray bars...
32:09It's all hands on deck now.
32:13Juan gets to work on making
32:15the 400-pound hopper adjustable.
32:18Let me put this pin in.
32:19...and installs it with mine helper, Greg.
32:22We made a bunch of holes in the legs,
32:24so that way when we get it adjusted to where we want it,
32:26we can pin it, and then we're ready to go.
32:30To prevent pay dirt clogging at the top
32:32and speed up the plant,
32:35Juan raises the angle of the hopper
32:37by modifying a set of adjustable trailer jacks.
32:43We got this trailer jack you're able to crank it here,
32:46get the pressure off these pins.
32:48You can see right there.
32:49Then what I can do is pull the pins out,
32:51crank it to where I want it,
32:52get the pitch that I need on the hopper,
32:55repin it,
32:55but you got an adjustable hopper there.
32:58Trailer jacks, how simple.
33:00Working his magic one more time.
33:04Let's hook this hose up.
33:07There we go.
33:10Oh, perfect.
33:11Too much.
33:11I like it.
33:12All right.
33:13You like it?
33:13I do.
33:14Oh, their ideas are coming to shape,
33:16and things are coming together.
33:20Wow, it's just so amazing
33:22to see the differences so far.
33:28Well, ladies, water's hooked up,
33:31piping going to everything,
33:32so I guess tomorrow morning
33:35we do a four-hour test run, huh?
33:38Yeah.
33:38Sounds good.
33:39See you in the morning.
33:40All right.
33:54Well, the proof's going to be in the pudding, Freddy.
33:56You know, for this test run,
33:57we're going to have to be at least half an ounce or better.
33:59For them to meet their goal of an ounce a day.
34:01Yeah.
34:02I guess time will tell.
34:03Let's run a plant.
34:04Let's do it.
34:10Light up!
34:15Are we ready?
34:16Yeah, we're ready.
34:17Let's do this, guys.
34:18Let's make it happen.
34:24Let it rip!
34:26It's all come to a head,
34:28and this is the moment of truth.
34:29I'm nervous.
34:30I'm legitimately nervous.
34:34First bucket!
34:35First bucket, Freddy.
34:37Let's see if this machine
34:39is going to pump out some gold.
34:46This is the first female duel we've ever had,
34:48so I want to cut them out
34:49a little sign for their plant.
34:50The name of the mine is Chicks with Picks,
34:52so I'm doing two picks,
34:53representing the two chicks.
34:55I got all the letters cut out,
34:56and I got the picks cut out,
34:57so now we're just going to cut the frame out.
35:02Hello, ladies.
35:03Hi, guys.
35:04Freddy and I kind of had an idea.
35:06That is fantastic.
35:08Oh, my gosh.
35:09That is so cool.
35:10Here we go.
35:11Now it's official.
35:13Yeah, official.
35:23Here we go.
35:25Perfect.
35:26All right.
35:27On the edge of the Grand Canyon,
35:30it's do or die for female miners,
35:33Christine and Jamie.
35:37The hopper's doing great, Fred.
35:39That spray bar's doing really good,
35:40and the pitch now,
35:42you know,
35:42it's pretty much able to feed on its own.
35:45Yeah, the spray bar system's working great.
35:48Instead of needing to manually rake down the pay dirt,
35:52Juan's ingenious adjustable hopper
35:54and Freddy's spray bar
35:56self-feed dirt into the trommel.
36:00Usually I'm up there raking all the material down,
36:03so I'm almost out of a job.
36:06Freddy's manifold pushes more water volume
36:09into the trommel
36:10to spray fine pay dirt
36:12into the brand-new sluice.
36:14The material's coming out way cleaner,
36:17so this used to be just caked with mud,
36:21so that's awesome.
36:25That sluice box, I felt it.
36:27Good.
36:28I'm happy with it, Freddy.
36:29I am, too.
36:30We got a Ford Pinnow.
36:31We put Ferrari parts on it.
36:33Well, we did.
36:34Right?
36:38So who says women can't be gold miners?
36:42Last bucket!
36:43Last bucket!
36:55Shut it up!
36:56Shut it up!
36:59Thank you!
37:08How's it look up there, Fred?
37:09There's so much sand in it
37:11that it's hard to see.
37:14See anything in there, Juan?
37:16Uh-uh.
37:16Nothing yet.
37:17It's not saying that there's nothing there, but...
37:32What do you think, ladies?
37:34Hello, ladies.
37:35That knot is in the middle of my stomach.
37:39We got a third of an ounce before.
37:40We need at least a half now.
37:43Let's see what it is.
37:44Oh.
37:44Oh, my goodness.
37:45Half an ounce in four hours would mean Jamie and Christine could hit their 50-ounce season goal
37:51and secure their future as full-time miners.
37:55There's a tenth of an ounce.
37:57There's a tenth?
37:58There's a third of an ounce right there, so that's how much we did the first cleanup, right?
38:02We're goals a half, right?
38:03In four?
38:04Yes.
38:05Well, there's a half an ounce right there.
38:07Exactly a half an ounce.
38:08There's your goal.
38:09There's still more in there.
38:10Keep going, Freddy.
38:12Keep going.
38:12Well, there just happens to be three-quarters of an ounce there.
38:16Go, Freddy, go.
38:18Okay.
38:19Oh, my goodness.
38:19Wow.
38:20Well, let's keep going here.
38:21There were nine-tenths of an ounce.
38:23Wow.
38:24Oh, there's 1.17 ounces in four hours.
38:28Oh, my God, you guys.
38:30What?
38:321.25, exactly an ounce and a quarter.
38:36Oh, my gosh, you guys.
38:37And that's no BS.
38:39That's straight up.
38:40Wow, that's going to change our lives.
38:41That's how bad your plant was running.
38:44Can we stick with the positive?
38:47Over 50 days, Jamie and Christine could make 125 ounces worth $285,000, 150% more than their goal.
39:02Do you think you guys can make it on that?
39:04I think that would be amazing.
39:07That's a lot of haircuts.
39:10The fixes have just changed everything.
39:14It has completely opened up a whole new avenue of possibilities.
39:20We're not quitting.
39:21This is go.
39:23We want to be an inspiration for other females and to show them you can be a miner.
39:27If you put your mind to it, you can do anything.
39:32Wow.
39:32And just think about how many of these gullies you guys have, right?
39:36And they're all going to carry gold.
39:38But do us a favor.
39:39Let us know how it does.
39:40Yes.
39:40Right.
39:40Well, I guess you guys can actually add that to your scale there.
39:44Happy to do so.
39:45Yes.
39:47Right.
39:47At this point, I know my dad is proud of us.
39:51I know he's proud of me.
39:53I know that he's down here watching and looking in the sluice.
39:57Hoping there's some big gold nuggets.
40:01You ladies, take care, okay?
40:03Thank you so much.
40:04Appreciate it.
40:09It's a win.
40:10Huge win.
40:13Just happened.
40:16On to the next one, Wano.
40:17Let's go.
40:19These ladies are on a track now where they could come out here and they could make a darn good
40:22living.
40:23Oh, that's so beautiful.
40:25I was confident that we could double the amount of gold.
40:28But we way more than doubled it.
40:30Only 400%.
40:31Yeah.
40:32If they want to sell this place, I'll buy it.
40:44Freddie and Juan, we wanted to give you an update.
40:47We have been running for another three weeks.
40:51And we've been getting around that same amount when you guys were here.
40:56And, oh my gosh, it's made such a huge difference.
40:59We wanted to share this pan for you.
41:00Oh my gosh.
41:01We are getting consistent running.
41:03We've gotten in three weeks, almost 42 ounces, which is about $95,000.
41:10Oh my gosh.
41:11Right?
41:12This is so exciting.
41:14More than double the goal.
41:15The truth is we're rocking it.
41:17We're so grateful.
41:18Yeah.
41:18It's just changed our world.
41:21Chicks with Picks signing out.
41:23Until the next time.
41:25Bye.
41:26Bye.
41:27Bye.
41:27Bye.
41:27Bye.
41:29Bye.
41:29Bye.
41:30Bye.
41:31Bye.
Comments