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Gold Rush: Freddy Dodges Mine Rescue - Season 5 - Episode 06: Shake, Rattle and Gold
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00:03If you've ever seen a big amount of gold,
00:06that's enough to turn anybody into a gold hound for sure.
00:12It's my second year being a gold miner and I love it.
00:16My dad bought this property thinking that it would produce a lot of gold.
00:22And then we have none.
00:27The gold here is flood gold.
00:29It's so super hard to catch because it's so fine.
00:33We haven't got enough flow going right now.
00:35All of our gold is washing away because we don't have the right equipment.
00:41The mine is Andrew's future.
00:43So it has to succeed.
00:44I've got stuff all over the place that's half together
00:47and I don't really know how to make it work.
00:51Ready in one.
00:52This is a plea.
00:53This operation is on the edge right now.
00:56If we're not able to get on the gold, we're finished here.
01:02Freddie Dodge.
01:03I'd rather have gold in the bank than gold in the mountain.
01:05And Juan Ibarra.
01:07Not bad for built in the field.
01:08Want to make you rich.
01:10It turns your dream out here into a reality.
01:14In the past five years, the value of gold has doubled.
01:19There's a $3,000 nugget right there.
01:21But rookie miners find it more elusive than ever.
01:26If we don't recover more gold, then we could lose everything.
01:30But there is hope.
01:32Miracles, they do happen.
01:34To turn desperation into fortune.
01:37Freddie and Juan have one week.
01:39What you just did, this genius.
01:41To deliver a golden payday.
01:43They have a future and they know what they need to do.
01:55You know, it's always nice to be back in Canada, Freddie.
01:57Yeah, and I love British Columbia.
01:59It sounds like Travis is in pretty rough shape financially.
02:02Yeah, you were saying a little bit about that.
02:04He's got a ton of money sunk into the mine site.
02:06And he really hasn't produced much, huh?
02:09No, he hasn't.
02:10So who's Travis out here mining with, Freddie?
02:12He's out here with his son.
02:14You know, there's easier ways to have a father-son trip than going out and working your tail off and
02:18losing a bunch of money.
02:20Definitely, Juan.
02:21In British Columbia, Freddie and Juan are en route to the Long Bar mine, where father and son team, the
02:30Allens, work a 3,000-acre claim along the Fraser River.
02:36Historically, the Fraser River's produced a lot of gold over the years.
02:40Yeah, but you know as well as I do, gold's where you find it.
02:43It's not everywhere.
02:45We've got a really tight corner, Pier 1.
02:49All these mines we go to, they're in rough spots to get to.
02:52But that's just gold, huh?
02:54Yep.
02:56In the 1860s, the Caribou Gold Rush drew thousands of miners up the Fraser Valley in search of fine gold
03:06flakes along the river bars and benches.
03:09Those who endured the unforgiving terrain pulled in over $8.5 billion worth of gold at today's prices.
03:20Another mine, huh, Juan?
03:21Yeah, good to be here.
03:23Hi, guys.
03:24How you doing?
03:25Hi, I'm Travis Allen.
03:27I'm Juan.
03:27Nice to meet you in person, Travis.
03:28Nice to meet you, Andrew.
03:29Andy?
03:29Good to meet you, Travis.
03:31Good to meet you as well.
03:31How you guys doing?
03:32Doing all right.
03:33How are you doing?
03:34My son and I are down here hacking away at Long Bar.
03:38Trying our hardest.
03:39Make it work.
03:40How long have you guys been out here?
03:41This is our second year of mining here.
03:44How much gold you do?
03:45Last season, that's the thing.
03:48We only did about five ounces of gold.
03:51We hadn't figured out how really the ground worked here quite yet.
03:56We've learned through trial by error that it's mostly flood gold here.
04:01Small gold then.
04:03It's all very small gold.
04:04Flower gold.
04:05Do you have any of it we can look at?
04:07Yeah, you bet.
04:08This is what we're chasing here.
04:09This is Fraser River gold.
04:11Some of the purest gold.
04:12What's the purity of it?
04:14High 90s.
04:15You know, closest to the 100% you're going to get.
04:18My family has always been in the mining and logging industry.
04:22When I was 16 years old, I wanted to leave the family logging outfit to learn how to gold mine.
04:28I met an old fella from Salmon Arm BC and joined his crew and I literally saw five gallon pails
04:35full of gold.
04:36Oh, that was totally the minute I became a gold junkie.
04:41I love being on gold mines.
04:42It's awesome.
04:43I'm really good at running the excavator and feeding the plant.
04:48I'm pretty confident about that.
04:49Two years ago, Travis set up Long Bar Mine to create a legacy for his son.
04:55I have learning disabilities, but I know I can become a mine boss.
05:00I'm trying to show my dad I'm trying to put as much effort into it as I can.
05:05Andrew's my whole world.
05:06I'm trying to install the work ethic that I have and give him the mining experience he needs so that
05:12he's able to thrive and succeed in this world just like anyone else.
05:18What's your investment out here?
05:19Well, we're in the ballpark of, you know, $400,000 spent in the last two seasons here.
05:27You only got $11,000 worth of gold last year, huh?
05:30Yeah.
05:30You're a ways away.
05:31Yeah, a long ways away.
05:33My son and I are out here picking away at this ourselves, trying to make it work the best we
05:37can.
05:38Now, what's your goal for this season?
05:40My goal for this season is 25 ounces.
05:44What's on the line here?
05:46Well, it's kind of everything on the line this year, Freddie.
05:50A good friend of mine, he's owed over $50,000.
05:54And if we don't get on the gold this year, Andrew and I are looking at, you know, possibly losing
06:01something in the value of $50,000.
06:03You know, an excavator or a loader, we wouldn't be able to bounce back from something like that.
06:07So without the gold, we're not going to make it, Freddie.
06:10Gold's money and money is gold.
06:11Yes, sir.
06:12That's why we're desperately in need of a hand to get on track here, so.
06:17What we like to do is come in.
06:18We'll do a four-hour test run.
06:19We want to watch the plant.
06:20We're not going to get involved.
06:22And that way we can kind of get together and figure out, you know, what we can do to help
06:24you.
06:24Thanks, Juan.
06:25Well, let's go look at the plant.
06:32So out of curiosity, what's all this about?
06:35Well, my son and I have been buying stuff all over the place at auctions, trying to piece together a
06:43good operating gold mine.
06:45But I don't really know how to put it together the way that it's supposed to.
06:49It looks like you got most of it, but there's a lot of little odds and ends that you don't
06:52have that are kind of important.
06:54Yep.
06:54Ideally, we would love to do that one, but I just don't know that we have enough time for that.
06:59You know, when Travis told us that he's 400K in the hole here, I can see it.
07:03He's got tons of equipment that he doesn't even use.
07:06But, you know, gold fever does that.
07:08So how long have you been running this small plant?
07:10That's what we've been running all season.
07:12To be honest with you, it's been a struggle.
07:14We've been managing to do a couple of grams a day, doing 12 yards a shift type of thing.
07:21So do you own this trommel?
07:23This plant, I'm just renting.
07:25What's the payment on that?
07:26$2,500 a month.
07:29That's got us eating out of cans for dinner.
07:32Well, let's run for four hours and see what kind of gold we get.
07:34We'll show you what a four-hour test run will give you.
07:38Let's get this show on the road.
07:41Start the generator!
07:46Here comes the dirt.
07:48First bucket, Juan.
07:49There it is.
07:50Washing for Freddie and Juan does feel a little bit like going to school,
07:54but respect their knowledge so much.
07:57Travis feeds virgin pay onto a conveyor.
08:01Feeding a 10-foot rotating trommel, spray bars inside wash the pay from the gravel
08:08into a six-foot-wide dual sluice run where the gold should be recovered.
08:14Water for the plant is pumped from a small holding pond and recycled from the sluice back into the pond.
08:26Looking at it right now, we can see a handful of problems already.
08:29The sluice?
08:30That sluice box is about four times too big for that plant.
08:33They don't have enough water to carry that wide a sluice.
08:37That's not enough water for one side, let alone two sides.
08:39No.
08:40And you can look at the drums.
08:42I bet over 50% of it's fogged up.
08:43I bet you're right.
08:46I'm worried about the ground.
08:48We can go out there and make them the most efficient plant in the world.
08:50But if there's no gold to catch in it, all you're doing is washing rocks.
08:56How's our trauma looking, son?
08:58Keep a close eye on the tailing.
09:00It's building up.
09:02You just sweep them away with your hands.
09:05So the reason I have to do this by hand is because our angle is not down far enough.
09:13We're not able to lose our tailing.
09:16He's got to go in there and clean that out by hand.
09:18How long is that going to last before the reward is completely out, right?
09:22No, that's a bad deal, Freddy.
09:24There's no one else I'd rather be out here working with than my son.
09:28This is more rewarding than anything.
09:31Especially if we can bring home some gold.
09:34Better solution!
09:35I wanted my son to be able to take the mine over.
09:38So this is going to be a super charge for Andrew's mining education.
09:43Working at the logging outfit is not the same as having your own gold mine.
09:51How long have we been running, Fred?
09:53Roughly two hours.
09:54I don't know that that pond's going to make four hours, Roy.
09:57Well, you can look at how much tailings we have in it right now.
10:00Yep.
10:03This water's now turning into a milkshake, right?
10:05So when that water gets thick, that really fine gold like they have here, you tend to start losing it.
10:12The thicker the water gets, the more gold you lose.
10:15That's what happens when you sluice out of a mud puddle.
10:20The water's so thick now that I'll go tell him last bucket and we'll let that feeder clear out.
10:25Yeah, sounds good.
10:28Hey, Travis!
10:29Last bucket!
10:31Shut it all down.
10:32Let's see what we got.
10:34Can't kill the pump!
10:39Can't kill the pump!
10:40Look at all of our black sands and gold that's piled up here out at the end of the sluice
10:47run, so you know definitely we're losing it.
10:50Some of the bigger stuff's here.
10:51A couple little pockets.
10:53It's all up at the top though, it seems, eh?
10:55Do you see any color down that low in the small stuff?
10:58I haven't yet.
10:59You guys want to get this cleaned up?
11:01We'll meet up later.
11:02You bet.
11:02We'll let you know how we made out.
11:03Okay.
11:04Sounds like a plan.
11:07I've seen other people, you know, in similar situations.
11:10People get gold fever and sometimes bad things happen, right?
11:14You throw a lot of your money away and that's what I'm seeing here right now.
11:18So hopefully Juan or myself can help them.
11:30Be curious to see, huh?
11:33It's going to be interesting.
11:35At the Long Bar Mine in British Columbia, the results are in for the two-hour test run on the
11:42Allen's wash plant rental.
11:44How we doing, gentlemen?
11:46Good. Hi, Freddy.
11:47Hi, Juan.
11:48So here's our dried gold, Fred.
11:51Okay.
11:54Let's see what we got.
12:01.03.
12:04.03 ounces worth just $69.
12:08It's not good.
12:10Not good at all.
12:11It's not enough to cover the fuel that you used.
12:13Not enough at all.
12:15You can't continue to mine that way.
12:17No, definitely not.
12:18You know, the more you run, the quicker you're going to go broke.
12:20Yep.
12:21That's a hard way to go broke.
12:22At this rate, a fast food job would be paying you a lot more.
12:25I appreciate the harsh honesty of things, for sure, Freddy.
12:31But hope is not lost.
12:33We're going to sit down and have a chat and see what we can't do with the plant.
12:36That would be fantastic.
12:37My son and I really need the help at this point, as you can tell.
12:40Yeah, you do.
12:43Here's your gold, sir.
12:45Don't spend it all in one place.
12:47Thank you, Freddy.
12:48Well, let's go have a chat, Fred.
12:50Yeah.
12:52Not good, Juan.
12:53Nope.
12:55We didn't want to burst their bubble, but $70 worth of gold is not acceptable.
12:59Not even close.
13:00So it was a little bit of a reality check, but sometimes that's needed.
13:05Having this bad news from Freddy and Juan is definitely humbling.
13:08I think if we can focus on making a few fixes, there's still a chance of saving the season.
13:20They're sure some nice guys.
13:22And I love the fact that he's doing this to be able to set his son up.
13:25It's always good to see a family operation.
13:28But, you know, they're kind of in a rough shape.
13:31They're in really rough shape.
13:32Yeah.
13:32That plant that they got is basically a prospecting plant.
13:35It's one step up from a hobby mine right now.
13:37Uh huh.
13:37And really with the goal that they have, it's not going to cut it.
13:40Yeah.
13:41Not enough.
13:41And it's going to plug on him nonstop.
13:43Yeah.
13:43But really more than that, it's not his plant.
13:46Uh huh.
13:46He's renting it right now.
13:47He's got money going out the door before he's got money coming in.
13:50So, I'm really thinking that, you know, he has all those parts there.
13:54Let's set him up with his own plant.
13:55Yeah.
13:56He's kind of like a used equipment hoarder.
13:59He's got a bunch of stuff laying around, but none of it works.
14:02Well, none of it, it's all mismatch, right?
14:03Uh huh.
14:04You know, like none of it was really designed for each other.
14:06Yeah.
14:06But I think with what he has there, it's kind of a good start.
14:08I agree with you.
14:09I think what we can do is take that old shaker deck and repurpose it.
14:13We would have to build a new catch pan for the bottom, and this screen has no water system.
14:17So, we're going to have to put spray bars on it.
14:19Uh huh.
14:20We'll have to build a manifold then, Juan.
14:22Yep.
14:22And we should also modify and reuse that yellow sluice box he's got sitting there.
14:26That's perfect.
14:27But we can only use one side of the sluice.
14:29Yep.
14:29He doesn't have enough water to run full width, but if we get it into one, then we'll be in
14:34good shape.
14:35It's a lot of work.
14:36That's all right.
14:37Today, he's doing this to be able to set his son up.
14:39So, I'd be happy to waive our labor fee on this.
14:42He covers the material, we cover the labor.
14:44I'm good with that.
14:44Yeah.
14:45Done.
14:46All right.
14:46Let's do it.
14:48In an ambitious plan, Freddie and Juan will send back the trommel rental and resurrect Travis's
14:56Boneyard shaker deck.
14:59A new hopper will be fitted to feed the plant.
15:03They'll install a complete water system to wash the peg and make the pond four times bigger.
15:12The lower screen will be replaced to trap extra fine gold.
15:18And a new distribution chute will direct gold-bearing concentrates into one side of Travis's second-hand sluice.
15:31Hey, Fred. Hey, Juan.
15:33How's it going, guys?
15:34Doing okay.
15:35We went and talked things over.
15:37Yeah.
15:37We came up with a couple ideas.
15:40One of the things that we really want to do is whatever we do here, we want to make sure
15:42that we do it on your plant.
15:44You don't own the trommel.
15:45So, we'd be fixing up somebody else's equipment if you lost it.
15:48Yeah.
15:49So, we want to work on your screen that you have, that you own.
15:52Well, that's fantastic news.
15:54But it's going to be a lot more work than what we anticipated.
15:56We're going to have to build a feeder pan.
15:57Then, at the bottom, we're actually going to have to build a funnel to be able to funnel all that
16:00concentrated material into the sluice box.
16:02And reuse that yellow sluice box, but only half of it, because you don't have enough water to run six
16:09foot of box.
16:09You get enough water for three feet.
16:11We still have to do a water system.
16:13We'll have to build a manifold.
16:14We'll have to build spray bars.
16:15But I think, all in all, that's going to be a better plan for you guys.
16:18Absolutely, Juan.
16:19And you own it.
16:20Yeah.
16:20Yes, sir.
16:21And what we came to is $5,100.
16:26And that's strictly material.
16:28We talked about the labor.
16:30We're going to donate our labor 100%.
16:32Well, guys, I really appreciate that.
16:35That helps us huge.
16:38$5,100 is a pretty big number.
16:42I'd say send this trommel back so you aren't paying $2,500 a month.
16:46Yeah, I agree.
16:48It's a deal.
16:49Thank you, Freddie.
16:51Meet us down there.
16:51You guys can help us.
16:52Absolutely.
16:53Yeah, we're going to need your help to get this done.
16:54And we'll teach you some welding skills.
16:56All right.
16:57Excellent.
16:58All right.
16:59Good stuff, son.
17:00Well, let's get to work, huh?
17:02Yep.
17:05Freddie and Juan have less than four days to resurrect a boneyard wash plant and turn the
17:11Allen's fortunes around.
17:15What do you think?
17:16I'm going to start cutting.
17:17Okay.
17:18I'll do that screen and then the discharge shoots.
17:20I might go look at some ground real quick.
17:23Yep.
17:23All righty.
17:24Let's make it happen.
17:29We're going to cut this out of one sheet of steel.
17:32First, Juan fabricates an extra fine gold screen for the new wash plant.
17:38Right now, they're screening way too big for the gold that they have.
17:40So we're going to cut that down a little bit.
17:42The better that your classification is, the better the concentration is going to be.
17:46And you won't be having that larger material compete with that smaller gold and pushing
17:49it out of the sluice box.
17:51To recover the fine gold, Juan's plasma cutter precisely carves 3,000 1 eighth inch holes,
18:00four times smaller than the shaker's original screen.
18:04We're going to have about five hours of cut time on the screen.
18:06But we don't have any room for error.
18:09Right now is not a time to make mistakes.
18:22I'm extremely concerned about the amount of gold in these gravels.
18:26So I feel like I'm in a little bit of a hornet's nest here.
18:32Freddie's first priority?
18:33Get eyes on the ground.
18:35Travis has been mining.
18:37Are all these your tailings or was somebody in here before you?
18:41No, this is my tailings from last year.
18:43Whose tailings are those?
18:45They're all mine.
18:47And you only got five ounces out of all this?
18:49Yep.
18:49Oh, man.
18:51Yep.
18:52I wish I would have known when to quit.
18:55Rough estimate, you ran 5,000 yards.
18:57Wow.
18:59I had no idea we washed that much gravel.
19:01There's a tenth of an ounce per hundred roughly.
19:03Travis needs to recover ten times this amount of gold to turn a profit.
19:08Travis wants, you know, this to be a legacy for his son.
19:13And as of right now, I don't know if there's enough gold here for that to really happen.
19:20Did you test any of this material?
19:22We just weren't testing the way we should have been testing and we ended up washing gravels that were not
19:28great.
19:29This is your most important tool out here to start with.
19:34There's one of these in every piece of heavy equipment.
19:36Right?
19:37Whether it's a loader, whether it's a dozer, whatever.
19:40Okay.
19:40Every piece of equipment that I owned had a gold pan in it.
19:44And if you run across something that looks neat, you know, get out and pan it.
19:47It gives you kind of an indicator on...
19:50Direction you're going.
19:51Yeah.
19:53So this is what the bank looks like when you cut into it.
19:56That's what I want to see.
20:00It's definitely been reworked by water, which is a good thing.
20:04See our flat rocks?
20:06So when water flows, it can't stand up, right?
20:09Your flat rocks go flat and they shingle up.
20:13The flat rocks are a sign that the gold-bearing Fraser River once flowed through this part of the cut.
20:20The layer at your knees the best that I can see.
20:23Would you go a little deeper and see what's down there?
20:26Try it and see.
20:27You know, it may change.
20:29There may be a layer under this that has a different matrix to it.
20:33If you aren't done yet, just keep testing.
20:36Absolutely.
20:37Thank you, Freddie.
20:38Looking forward to it.
20:39My worry is he's got gold fever.
20:41And when he sees, you know, three specks of gold, he gets excited.
20:45Hopefully the things we're teaching Travis here, he'll keep embedded and he'll get on the gold.
21:01We've got a lot of stuff to do today, so we just got to get rolling here.
21:05On the Long Bar mine in British Columbia...
21:08Touch the left first.
21:10In a bid to save their mining operation, the Allens move their scrap shaker deck to Juan's fabrication base camp
21:18in the Boneyard, where it can be worked on more easily.
21:22You're coming with us, big girl.
21:28You can feel the strain even on the undercarriage.
21:32Don't get too close, sunshine.
21:35It's a big load.
21:36It's heavy.
21:37Let's set it right here.
21:41Perfect, right there.
21:46Shaker deck in place, Juan starts work on a new hopper.
21:51The hopper is going to be where we drop the material in with the excavator, and that way it can
21:55feed on top of the screen.
21:56But also it'll have a water port on the back to be able to push that material in.
22:00If I can get everything cut out between today and tomorrow morning, hopefully we'll be able to start getting things
22:05on plant in the next day or so.
22:07It's going to be a lot of build.
22:12It's definitely faster to refurbish half this loose box than to build a whole new one.
22:17I'm going to put all new angle clips in.
22:19Because you see how this one's already bent up?
22:21Yes, sir.
22:22What's just welded on the top, so once you use a wedge on this three or four times, it's going
22:26to snap them off.
22:27So we need 14 of these.
22:29Sure, Freddy.
22:30No worries.
22:37Nothing is cheap at all in gold mining.
22:40The sluice boxes were around $5,000 each.
22:44So it's good to see them being put to use instead of just sitting there getting rusty.
22:50Hey, Andrew.
22:50I might get you to grind for me where these angle clips are going to go.
22:54Sure.
22:55Grind that whole area.
22:57You bet.
23:04Like that?
23:05Close enough.
23:11Did you enjoy working with your son?
23:14I really enjoy working with my son, actually.
23:17Good.
23:18We're very close.
23:19I can definitely tell you guys are pretty close.
23:21I pretty much raised him since I could hold him in one hand by myself.
23:27It was tough as a single father.
23:29The early years were really good.
23:32The older he got, I started to see changes in Andrew that had to do with his special needs.
23:38It's a type of autism that not very many children have.
23:43But he's got what he needs here to make it.
23:46I will help him to learn the ropes so that he's able to take the reins.
23:50This is protection for him, for his future, for both of us.
23:57Thanks, Andrew.
23:59Well, it looks pretty good.
24:00I'll start welding on this.
24:13Just trying to get in here on the good, level ground so we can get all the good pay.
24:19While work continues on the sluice, Travis follows up on Freddie's tips in the long bar cut.
24:26Finding out that our gold averages are so low is hard to take.
24:31But like Freddie said, try to follow the pay layers.
24:36That's interesting.
24:37There's a bigger rock here.
24:40Let's go a little deeper.
24:41Looks like we've got an obvious change here.
24:45I think I'm going to go get a gold pan and test some of this pay.
24:52Freddie had some great advice.
24:54If we're breaking the ground, we should be panning it before it hits any kind of a wash plant.
25:00Starting to get down to the good stuff now.
25:03It might be small, but it has gold.
25:10All right, Freddie, I found another layer.
25:12I thought I'd show it to you before I take it down too far and lose any.
25:16Don't be scared of losing a spec.
25:18Time's money, right?
25:19Yeah.
25:26It's got gold in it.
25:2710, 12 colors.
25:29That's better than the other stuff by far.
25:32Dig it up.
25:33We'll run it.
25:34All right, Freddie.
25:35Thanks.
25:35No worries.
25:40So right now I'm working on the manifold.
25:43These are the side pieces.
25:44And we'll just build a big rectangle that'll be the manifold.
25:48One's manifold will distribute pressurized water to the spray bars above the hopper and pay screens to separate the extra
25:56fine gold from river gravels.
26:00Well, there it is.
26:03That'll be the four inch coming in.
26:04And then three inch and a half valves for spray bars.
26:08Two inch valves for a spray bar on the back of the feeder.
26:12Also, when he gets a bigger pump, he can cut a hole in here and put a six inch port
26:16so he can run a bigger pump.
26:22You want to cut some carpets, Andrew?
26:24Sure.
26:25You can see we're six foot wide and eight feet long, right?
26:29In the boneyard, Freddie and Andrew make new sluice mats to trap extra fine long bar gold.
26:35So we need four, four foot by three foot sections of carpet.
26:40Okay.
26:41Grab the tape.
26:43Measure twice, cut once.
26:45Yep.
26:46So just follow your line and cut them.
26:48I will.
26:51I am very excited to learn things from Freddie and Juan.
26:55It's important for me if I wanted to become a mine boss.
27:00Freddie, I got some finished carpet there for you.
27:02Alrighty.
27:03So let's put them in.
27:04Sure.
27:06Watching Andrew work next to Freddie is amazing.
27:08He's learning from me and he's learning from Freddie and Juan.
27:11Now let's grab our miner's moss and put it up top.
27:13I think these are all footsteps going forward for him taking the reins one day.
27:19There you go.
27:26Hey Juan, what do we got going on here?
27:28So this is the beginning of the chute.
27:30The material that's been screened properly will drop into this and then all the oversized
27:34material can go right off the front of it out into the muck bay.
27:37Uh huh.
27:37To keep gold concentrates clear from the tailings, the new chute will make a 90 degree turn into
27:45the sluice box.
27:46Can I help you with anything?
27:48Have you ever done any welding before?
27:50I was pretty good back in high school when I was doing it.
27:53If you want to get that welding coat on, those gloves and that hood.
27:56Yeah, sure.
28:03Well, let's see what you got.
28:04So you strike it like a match.
28:06Yeah.
28:07A little closer.
28:08A little closer.
28:09A little closer.
28:09There you go.
28:11Perfect.
28:13Let's weld up to there and see how you do.
28:15Okay.
28:19It's always a big worry of mine to take on such an ambitious build knowing that we only
28:22have a few days to do it.
28:24I'm hoping with Andrew and Travis here, we should be able to get most of this done, but
28:29we'll see.
28:30There you go.
28:31Good job.
28:32Thank you, Juan.
28:37Well, we just got the chute all welded up, so we're going to get it installed.
28:42This bottom goes on the bottom of this.
28:45Okay.
28:46Let's get this side up.
28:48Can we just twist it?
28:50Yeah.
28:50Keep going.
28:51Whoa.
28:52Lift it up.
28:53Tight.
28:56That pan's all up.
28:59With a gap like that, water's going to splash out of it.
29:02It's definitely going to be hard for Freddie to be able to weld it in place, because right
29:05now it's probably got three quarters of an inch of gap.
29:08The Boneyard shaker deck has warped with age, and they can't connect the new chute.
29:15When they built it, they didn't build it strong enough to be able to hold its shape,
29:18so we're dealing with it now.
29:31I was thinking of putting a jack off there, if I can reach in there.
29:34Yep.
29:35At the Long Bar Mine, Freddie and Juan fight to connect the new discharge chute to the beat-up shaker
29:42deck.
29:42Any gaps could leak fine gold.
29:46Underneath the screen, it's bowed.
29:49So right now, Freddie's trying to pull that chute down to be able to get it close to the new
29:53discharge chute that we built,
29:54to be able to weld it in place.
30:06Well, we got it pulled down most of the way.
30:08I'm going to run a beat of silicone through it to seal it up.
30:12We're just stopping a little bit of water splash.
30:15With the gap below closed, the sides must also be welded.
30:21Hey, Juan.
30:22Pop-tack it?
30:23Try it.
30:24I'll hit her right here.
30:26It'll take me a second to bridge it.
30:30Yep.
30:35One more.
30:37Okay.
30:40Yep.
30:45Perfect.
30:46Yep.
30:46That's what you call hot tacking.
30:48When you got a gap, get a tack in the middle of it, hit it with a hammer and smash
30:53that weld in, and it'll pull the weld in.
30:55So I had a gap like that, now it's pretty tight.
30:58That's one of the big pieces we had to put in.
31:00We still have a hopper we have to install still, and the complete water system.
31:03So we're getting closer, but we still got a lot to do.
31:20How's it going, Travis?
31:21Going good, Fred.
31:21How you doing?
31:22Oh, doing all right.
31:23Good stuff.
31:23It's starting to come along.
31:24Little by little.
31:25Today, we've got to get water in here, because without water, we can't sluice.
31:29Absolutely.
31:30Because we only ran two hours last time, and it silted up.
31:33I'd like to raise that dam on the far side of the pond, raise it another foot or so, so
31:37we can get more water.
31:37For sure.
31:38Alrighty, I'm going to get to work.
31:39Thanks, Freddy. I appreciate it. Talk to you soon.
31:42To pump cleaner water into the plant and improve fine gold recovery, Travis raises the earth dam to make the
31:51pond four times bigger.
31:54Travis, you know, he may not know everything about gold mining, but one thing's for sure is that he's a
31:59good operator on that track hoe.
32:01He's one of the guys I trust.
32:03Raised it up a little higher and packing it in a little tighter and see if we can't make it
32:08old water.
32:09I think it's going to be high enough for now.
32:13Hey, Freddy, what do you think of the bird?
32:16She looks good, man.
32:20We're one step closer, Freddy.
32:22We hook everything up and then start pumping.
32:25I'm going to get back at it.
32:26Okay, Freddy.
32:34At the cut trailer...
32:36This is the beginning of the spray barge.
32:38Juan fabricates new spray bars to wash the pay gravels.
32:42Just use the plasma table to blast out all my holes.
32:45That way it was a little easier.
32:46Instead of having to go in there individually and drill every hole, we have four bars that we have to
32:51build.
32:51So it's quicker this way.
32:52Just to set up the table and burn them out.
32:58The spray bars are in place.
33:00We still got to get the screen in.
33:03And then, you know, we also...
33:05There's that thing about running it.
33:09Pick up on that screen so Juan can get his forks under it.
33:12You bet.
33:13Go ahead, Wano.
33:14The Allens helped Freddy transport and install the 200-pound fine gold screen.
33:21Let's just slide it on manual, guys.
33:24It's all yours, Juan.
33:26Thank you, Fred.
33:26Watch out, buddy.
33:27Coming up.
33:30Keep going back.
33:35Shove her up there, sir.
33:37Watch your fingers.
33:40Now get her great.
33:41One, two, three.
33:42Go!
33:44There we go.
33:45Got her.
33:47She's all coming together.
33:49Piece by piece.
33:51Coming up.
33:52The final piece of the puzzle is Juan's new hopper.
33:56Go!
34:03That's it, A1.
34:05That's it, buddy.
34:06Well, this build took a little longer than what we expected,
34:08but now it's a mad dash to get the plant dragged back over.
34:13Stick up!
34:14Stick up!
34:16Travis moves the upgraded shaker 300 yards to the pad
34:20for the second test run.
34:23Actually looks like a plant now.
34:25A week ago, this wash plant was just sitting in the corner resting.
34:29It really looks good to see it back together.
34:36Curl your bucket in.
34:38Come in.
34:40One of the most exciting days for a gold miner is happening right now.
34:45Go!
34:46Track in a little bit more.
34:50Go!
34:51We're in good shape, huh?
34:53Perfectly center.
34:55Perfect.
34:58Both you and Juan, you're gonna change our future.
35:01Thank you, that means a lot.
35:03Let's get out of here, huh?
35:04Put things away and get ready for a test run.
35:06Let's do it.
35:08It's a huge transformation.
35:09We basically took essentially scrap iron and built a full functional plant.
35:14Hopefully tomorrow we're gonna be full of gold, but we'll see.
35:23Come here, Willow!
35:24In a moment of downtime, Freddie gets back to his ranching roots with dog Willow.
35:30You see those chickens?
35:32Come on, Willow!
35:33Get around those chickens.
35:34Hurt them up!
35:35I grew up on a ranch.
35:36We had cow dogs.
35:37That's a sheep dog with a desire to herd something.
35:40That's the instincts that those dogs have.
35:42I can't get those instincts out of her today.
35:45Hurt them up!
35:46Get around!
35:47It's not my day for a dog trainer.
35:50Well, I tried.
36:00Hey, Freddie. Hey, Juan.
36:01What do you think, Travis?
36:02You guys ready to run?
36:03Yeah, you bet.
36:05Well, let's run.
36:06Let's do it.
36:07Let's do it.
36:08At the Long Bar Mine, the Allens fire up their new wash plate for the second test run.
36:16Let's see if she shakes for us.
36:23Looking good, sunshine.
36:26Here's the first scoop.
36:30First bucket launch.
36:32Four-hour run.
36:33Yeah.
36:35It feels great to run this plant for the first time.
36:39It's been sitting in the field for a couple of years.
36:42I never, ever thought it would come together.
36:46The loose is running good.
36:48The plant's running good.
36:50The water's cleaning the material.
36:52The rocks are coming off clean.
36:55I don't think I've ever seen a wash plant run this good before.
37:04It's really lost the good.
37:06It makes me more confident than we can get to our 25-ounce full.
37:11Looks like we're running about shovels if we're touching.
37:16Overall, I'm pretty happy with it.
37:18You know what we did with this?
37:19We resurrected a dinosaur.
37:21Yeah.
37:21Something that was fit for the scrap pile, now it's actually a running plant.
37:25And he owns it.
37:26Yeah.
37:26Hopefully we see some gold in the box.
37:29What is that?
37:29Is that four hours now, Fred?
37:31Four hours, right on the money.
37:32Last bucket!
37:43Let's go see the box.
37:47It's quite a bit of material, isn't it?
37:50Oh, look here in the carpet.
37:52See, that's why we double layer it, right?
37:54Yeah, it's all over the top there, all over here.
37:58Some more bigger pieces in here.
38:00Good.
38:00A little more, because the scale doesn't lie.
38:02You bet.
38:10Let's go weigh it up, Freddy.
38:11I'm curious.
38:12Yeah, me too.
38:12I'm worried too.
38:14Yeah.
38:16Where's your gold at, guys?
38:17I got some gold right here for you to weigh.
38:19We did a .03 last time.
38:23You know, you gotta be right around a quarter of an ounce a day, right?
38:26To be able to finish the season off.
38:28Absolutely, that's what we're shooting for.
38:29Let's weigh it up.
38:33The Allens' final hopes rest on a boosted recovery from Freddy and One's upcycled wash plant and the new prospected
38:41pay from the long bar cut.
38:46Well, we're way past the .03.
38:49After doubling their last two hour run time, they need to see at least .1 ounces to save their season.
38:57Huh.
38:58Look at that number.
38:59.20.
39:00Wow.
39:01Just shy of a quarter ounce.
39:02Wow.
39:04Almost $500 in just a four hour run.
39:08More than triple the gold recovery of their wash plant rental.
39:12That's pretty good.
39:13That's pretty excellent compared to what we've been doing.
39:15You know, in reality is, an eight hour run, you'd be closer to half an ounce, you know?
39:20Absolutely.
39:20And that's doable.
39:21That's what we're going for.
39:22That's $1,200 a day.
39:23Wow, that's pretty good.
39:24Well, you weren't gonna survive before.
39:26Absolutely.
39:27The way the plant's set up, you're only running at half capacity.
39:30I agree.
39:30You know, as you ramp things up, you start making some money, you can get a bigger pump and start,
39:35you know, using both sides of the sluice box.
39:36And hopefully get an ounce a day.
39:37Exactly.
39:38It's nice to have my own plant up and running.
39:40This is actually light at the end of the tunnel for me.
39:44This is the best news we've seen.
39:46Man, do I appreciate it, fellas.
39:49Juan and myself gotta hit the road?
39:51Thank you, Freddie.
39:52You're welcome.
39:52Thank you, Juan.
39:53Hey, no worries.
39:54Thank you, Juan.
39:55Thank you, Freddie.
39:58Here's our future.
40:00Right there.
40:01Miracle in the pan.
40:02Both Andrew and I are just ecstatic.
40:05It doesn't even feel real what Freddie and Juan have done for us.
40:09I never thought it could happen.
40:11But it has happened.
40:13We'll make it here.
40:14We can survive.
40:15I want to say to Freddie and Juan, thank you very much for coming down to our gold mine and
40:20saving the day.
40:22I can't be any happier.
40:23A miracle has happened for me.
40:26If it was easy, everyone would do it.
40:28But honestly, I have a lot of hope here.
40:31Andrew is driven and he's made a decision.
40:33He wants to be a miner and he's going to continue with this.
40:36But now he has the right tools to be able to continue with his career.
40:46Here's an update from Long Bar.
40:48Since we've seen Freddie and Juan, the updates have helped us tremendously.
40:53This old plant has really lots of good.
40:56It's got a great shape.
40:58The tailings are nice and clean.
41:00We're washing around 100 yards of shift.
41:03Doing anywhere from three quarters of an ounce to an ounce a day.
41:07We're so happy to be able to share it with my son and show him this is how we can
41:12claw away at our future.
41:14One scoop at a time.
41:16Now we just want to wash, wash, wash.
41:18We'll be here until the snow flies.
41:20Things just look that much better for us now and for Anders' future.
41:24We're able to pay the bills.
41:27Thanks again Freddie and Juan.
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