Gold Rush: Freddy Dodges Mine Rescue - Season 5 - Episode 01: Pipe Dreams Eng Sub - video Dailymotion

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Gold Rush: Freddy Dodges Mine Rescue - Season 5 - Episode 01: Pipe Dreams

Transcript

00:00:02a lot of people have done this and a lot of people have lost everything and i definitely

00:00:07don't want to be one of those people this is the make or break year for us

00:00:16it's difficult because of how steep it is up here on the mountain we're just not able to

00:00:21move a lot of material so much deeper than it looks the amount of gold that we typically get

00:00:28just isn't cutting it we know what's in there i have got every dollar invested in this and

00:00:35it's not sustainable without that volume increase i'm gonna have to just call it quits

00:00:41that's a scary thought ready and one i desperately need your help on this

00:00:51freddie dodge i'd rather have gold in the bank than gold in the mountain and one ibarra not bad

00:00:57for built in the field want to make you rich it turns your dream out here into a reality

00:01:03in the past five years the value of gold has doubled there's a three thousand dollar nugget right there

00:01:10but rookie miners find it more elusive than ever if we don't recover more gold then we could lose

00:01:18everything but there is hope miracles they do happen to turn desperation into fortune freddie and

00:01:27won have one week what you just did this genius to deliver a golden payday they have a future and

00:01:34know what they need to do we've been on some pretty terrible roads over the years but this was pretty

00:01:48bad more of a fuel trail than a mining road one we felt miners recover gold and lots of states

00:01:55but this

00:01:56our first time in washington one oh in mine rescues first ever visit to washington state freddie and

00:02:05won are en route to the butt tree mine owned by levi butt tree the five acre hard rock claim

00:02:12is set

00:02:12up over three different levels on a steep 50 degree mountain slope

00:02:20patented by president roosevelt in 1904 the claim sits in the heart of shulon county mining hopefuls

00:02:29first flocked here in 1860 when placer in the creeks played out prospectors found gold rich veins

00:02:36in the mountains and hard rock mining in the county began miners who held and worked these claims for

00:02:43five years could file for a patent if granted by the government the miner then owned the land and

00:02:50minerals underneath with the title signed by the president of the time nothing about this mountain

00:02:57is friendly no it's steep boy it's a steep son of a gun what do we know about b-bot

00:03:03he's got his best

00:03:04friend out here with him so hopefully there's enough gold because lack of gold can end friendships

00:03:11looks like we're here at his plant long ways up here your ears popping yeah

00:03:20levi i assume freddie good morning how are you doing this is corey this is my partner yeah nice

00:03:25to meet you cory well pleasure to meet you likewise we're definitely going to be limited on what we can

00:03:29do just because we can't get our trucks exactly so how long have you guys been mining out here this

00:03:34will be my fourth year um owning the property and last summer was the first time we actually had an

00:03:40operation set up it started with a gold pan when i first saw that flake of gold in that pan

00:03:49i knew

00:03:50that my life was going to change and knowing that this piece of property had not been mined yet

00:03:56and there's been 851 000 ounces taken off this mountain i just knew that this was the property that i

00:04:02needed to buy levi bought the property after hearing stories of a legendary vein on the mountain

00:04:09missed by the old timers they knew if they cross cut into the hillside eventually they were going to hit

00:04:15the vein but they went in about 150 feet didn't find it and for whatever reasons they gave up and

00:04:21i just

00:04:22knew that if you worked hard you were going to find it i came up here and discovered they missed

00:04:27it by 30

00:04:28feet i'm sure we've all seen the old videos of the old gold jig that's exactly what i was doing

00:04:34when i

00:04:34found it but part-time firefighter levi has found man versus mountain a struggle hard rock mining is much

00:04:43tougher everything is intensive manual labor a lot of blood and sweat our biggest hold up right now is

00:04:50moving material up and down the mountain because of the steepness and the terrain

00:04:56levi's obsession with gold has cost him more than money i've lost friends and i've got a lot of

00:05:03family that don't even talk to me anymore you know you get a lot of naysayers but my mom she's

00:05:07kind

00:05:07of been my rock with this she could see it in me that i wanted to do this and this

00:05:12was going to be

00:05:13my future and she made sure you're not giving up catching levi's gold bug best buddy and father of

00:05:20seven corey quit a steady job to join levi on his dream his gold fever is is contagious him and

00:05:28i work

00:05:29really really well together so it's easy to enjoy time with levi even if it is hard work it's a

00:05:35lot

00:05:35of pressure being up here especially with my large family of seven kids that's a lot of bills to pay

00:05:43i can't imagine how stressful it can be having seven children and then give up what you do to

00:05:51make money to come up here to hope to make more money you know that's a lot more burden on

00:05:56my

00:05:57shoulders and telling them at the end that we can't do it anymore i don't want to do that to

00:06:01him

00:06:01so i want this to work out for him just as much as i want it to work out for

00:06:06me

00:06:08you got any gold yeah there's a gram of gold there maybe yeah super fine i started out using

00:06:15a sluice and i was losing gold in my tailings so i brought up a shaker table to try that

00:06:21out and

00:06:22that's what we're running it on now okay how much gold was you losing though with a sluice

00:06:27probably 30 percent okay yeah how much does it slow you down the way you're doing it now though

00:06:32it slows us down considerably does it slow you down 300 percent pretty close yes because with

00:06:38the shaker table we can't run volume the position that you're in you need to run volume there has

00:06:43to be an acceptable loss but if you can run 300 faster but lose 20 30 you know and maybe

00:06:49you're

00:06:49ahead yeah exactly you know we're having to manhandle everything by moving by buckets and

00:06:55going down to our other processing area it's a long process exactly you know if we're only running

00:07:01a minimal amount a day then what are we doing yeah you're just peeing in the wind then exactly yeah

00:07:07what's it take for you to make money off this year to make it viable we're going to need like

00:07:12three

00:07:12ounces a week to continue doing this seven thousand dollars a week what were you able to recover last

00:07:18year you know ounce and a half a month

00:07:23going from an ounce and a half in a month to hoping to get three ounces a week you know

00:07:27that's a big jump

00:07:29whether that can be done or not i don't know

00:07:33at the point you're at you know with that kind of money invested it's not good enough just to get

00:07:36your investment back you got to make more and be able to help help him out well if we keep

00:07:41yak in

00:07:41here we won't run a plant so what do you guys think let's fire it up let's get it fired

00:07:45up that sounds good

00:07:51come on fire up

00:07:56we'll do a two-hour test run yeah two hours will provide a baseline for the amount of gold the

00:08:02plant is recovering there it is a couple hour run and let freddie and one eyeball potential fixes

00:08:09you got your time started got her timer's going millions of years ago the buttry mine mountain

00:08:17formed when thick volcanic magma slowly cooled deep underground pressurized boiling water from the

00:08:25earth's core distributes gold and other minerals in thin quartz veins which slowly crystallize into granite

00:08:32over time seismic activity brings this rock to the surface and the veins of gold rich quartz are exposed

00:08:42how's it going levi strenuous hard labor intensive but if i don't mind keep pushing into it

00:08:49right here on the surface it's pretty soft but getting down deeper that quartz is getting harder

00:08:53it looks like a pretty slow way to make a living with that cordless hammer and it's going to get

00:08:58harder yeah as it gets harder that little cordless hammer ain't going to do it for you no it's like

00:09:04bringing a spoon to a gunfight it's good to see gold in the ore right away you can actually see

00:09:11some of

00:09:12the gold in there some of that free million gold freddie little flake a little tiny flake right there

00:09:16there's one for sure right there

00:09:20we little guy but it's there yeah it's a good start well we'll see in a little bit all right

00:09:24sounds good they picked up a piece of my ore and was able to see visible gold in it so

00:09:30that's hard

00:09:31to do in itself with gold ore unless you're in some of the richest places in the world but

00:09:35that kind of got me perked up a little bit

00:09:41the gold bearing ore is carried along level three to a jaw crusher

00:09:55the crushed ore is trucked down to the wash plant 200 feet below

00:10:00every bit of material that they're going to run down below they have to load it up in a tote

00:10:04get it in the back of the pickup drive it down unload it unload it then shovel it into the

00:10:11top of that

00:10:12hammer mill now i see why he's only producing what he's producing you know i know it's

00:10:17really good ore coming out of there but you got to be able to get the gold out of it

00:10:21and get

00:10:21it in your pockets a problem you know and it's a slow process very slow but i imagine the second

00:10:26part of this is even slower let's go have a look at it

00:10:37the wash plant on level two hey holler at me when you see it up here draws water from a

00:10:42creek another

00:10:43200 feet further down the mountain well he's actually going down there to start the pump huh

00:10:48freddy he's got quite a trek keep you in shape yeah but every minute he's doing that he's not making

00:10:55gold

00:10:55yeah

00:11:02the ore is hand fed into a hammer mill which crushes material even finer before running it across the

00:11:09shaker table right now with the feed rate the gold is so fine and small that this is the only

00:11:14way i

00:11:15can run it get a good capture rate pretty excited to see what they think about this table cory and

00:11:20i put

00:11:20a lot of work into this whole station and we got a lot of pride into it so hopefully it'll

00:11:25tear it down

00:11:25too much can we adjust this table on the fly let's try something let's tip that down hard all right

00:11:35okay i

00:11:36can do that you're lowering it or raising it because nothing's moved yet so it's not actually dropping

00:11:44the table down oh well that's no good so you can't adjust this table then for the most part

00:11:52so right now he's got that table set in one position he can't adjust it so if your material

00:11:59changes let's say you get more heavies you got to be able to adjust that the pitch to be able

00:12:04to cut

00:12:04to make that material move where you want it to move you have to take control of the material you

00:12:09make

00:12:09it go where you want it to go not where it wants to go like a bad dog yeah well

00:12:16let's call it there

00:12:17we're over two hours right there all right

00:12:25they seem like great guys yeah levi's wound tighter in the spring that's an understatement

00:12:30they're motivated they are motivated you know and if you're going to be hard rock mining you got

00:12:34to be motivated my passion and my heart is in this and i've always told corey this there's something

00:12:41in my bones that has been screaming that i was meant for something and finding the vein that nobody's

00:12:47found till i got here i feel like this is it and so if it doesn't work out i just

00:12:52feel like it's gonna

00:12:53crush me see a little bit of gold in there yeah i see some colors in there as well there's

00:13:01the odd piece

00:13:01up on top there a lot of myself have a lot to think about i don't want yeah you guys

00:13:07want to

00:13:07get it cleaned up and we'll see in the morning yeah it sounds like a plan

00:13:15so what are your thoughts on all that fred a lot of the minds we help we're going to say

00:13:19we go priority

00:13:20right this is the most important that's the second most this one they're all important every bit of it

00:13:25everything all the way down the line on this one's got to be reworked yeah yeah from the recovery side

00:13:31to the mining side and the transport i honestly i'm a little worried freddy that we don't have

00:13:36enough time to get it all done yeah i am as well oh man that's going to be a lot

00:13:42of work one

00:13:57good morning good morning gentlemen good morning guys how are you doing how are we looking

00:14:02good wine done for the next one four thousand feet up the mountain it's the moment of truth

00:14:09oh there is gold in there i can see from here but man it's a little bit in there on

00:14:13one yeah there's

00:14:14a bit fred a couple bigger pieces but that's not enough to weigh though

00:14:21well the good news is there is gold in it you know we can see a few flakes so the

00:14:25bad news is

00:14:26You're just not getting enough material, you know,

00:14:28through the circuit.

00:14:29The more material you get down to your plant,

00:14:31get it washed, and across that table,

00:14:33the more you're going to be able to recover.

00:14:34Almost every single step of your process,

00:14:36there's something we can do to help you guys kind of streamline

00:14:38it.

00:14:39What Freddie and I want to do is kind of go back and put

00:14:41our heads together and see what we can't come up with.

00:14:43OK, perfect.

00:14:44Take care, guys.

00:14:45See you in a bit.

00:14:49Well, that wasn't a very impressive run.

00:14:52Couldn't even weigh the gold.

00:14:53That's probably one of the worst that we've ever seen.

00:14:55It probably is the worst.

00:14:57But in Levi's vein up there, we know there's good gold in that vein

00:15:00because we lucked at some of it.

00:15:01He's getting gold out of the vein.

00:15:03But the hard part is, Freddie, in a two-hour run,

00:15:06they were only able to run 150 pounds.

00:15:08Maybe not even that.

00:15:09That's not going to work.

00:15:10No.

00:15:10In order for them to make this a feasible mine,

00:15:12they have to get production up.

00:15:13And right now, it's not possible.

00:15:20I think if Levi and Corey can run more material,

00:15:23the sky's the limit for them.

00:15:24Freddie and Juan have one week to turn around Levi's operation.

00:15:31Eventually, he's going to get into that harder rock in that vein.

00:15:34Right now, he doesn't have equipment big enough to get that rock broken up

00:15:37without a license.

00:15:38We should probably help him.

00:15:39Using the Sierra blaster, it's actually a safe way

00:15:42where you don't need licensing to get some of that rock broke up.

00:15:45Well, right now, we're here.

00:15:47Yeah.

00:15:48And here's the mountain going down.

00:15:50And then his other pads down here.

00:15:52So if we put a pipe down.

00:15:54I like it.

00:15:55That in itself is going to save a ton of time.

00:15:57Mm-hmm.

00:15:58You know, right now, he's having to get it out of the vein,

00:16:00get it over here to the crusher, get it into a bucket,

00:16:02take it down, and then lift it on top of the hammer mill.

00:16:05It's a long process.

00:16:06That's going to save a ton of time.

00:16:08It's going to allow him to be able to run a lot more material.

00:16:10Yeah, pipe that material all the way down.

00:16:13What do you think about eliminating the table?

00:16:17Let's put a sluice.

00:16:18I agree.

00:16:20And bringing some concentrating spirals

00:16:22might actually help him out.

00:16:23We'll be able to recover it whatever goal gets past the sluice box.

00:16:26The spirals are actually kind of cool, Fred.

00:16:28Yeah, and it's something most people haven't even heard of, actually.

00:16:31By the time we do that and try to move material,

00:16:33I mean, we're limited on time.

00:16:35Well, it's just two of us.

00:16:36All of it's going to be a lot of work.

00:16:37You know, with the logistical nightmare of getting stuff up here,

00:16:39what do you think about maybe bringing Alex and Travis in to help us out?

00:16:43Yeah.

00:16:43Alex is, what, 6'8"?

00:16:45Yeah.

00:16:45So he can help us with that pipe.

00:16:47Yeah.

00:16:47He can just hold it up.

00:16:49And Travis is very well versed with the blaster.

00:16:51He can come out here and kind of show Levi how to do it.

00:16:54And then Levi's got that knowledge for the future.

00:16:56Exactly.

00:16:56What do you think as far as material and cost?

00:16:58Six grand?

00:16:59I'm going to say seven.

00:17:01Labor?

00:17:02You know.

00:17:02Two ounces a piece?

00:17:03I think that's fair, Freddie.

00:17:05$7,000 for material and four ounces for labor.

00:17:08That'll work.

00:17:08All right.

00:17:09Sounds good.

00:17:10Well, it's going to be a different one, that's for sure, Juan.

00:17:12It is.

00:17:13In one of their most ambitious fixes to date, Freddie and Juan will transform Levi's mine

00:17:19with a high-velocity electronic blasting system to break up gold-bearing ore from his vein.

00:17:26Instead of driving material down a hazardous road, a 180-foot-long pipe means they can send

00:17:34it straight from the jaw crusher on level three to the mill on level two.

00:17:41Juan will build a bespoke sluice to catch the first of the free gold.

00:17:46Finally, to increase production, they will add a concentrating spiral to process any remaining

00:17:52material and separate leftover gold that escapes the sluice.

00:18:04How's it going, guys?

00:18:05How are you doing?

00:18:06Doing all right.

00:18:07Excellent.

00:18:08We kind of came up with some ideas.

00:18:09We want to run them past you guys and see what you think.

00:18:12Gotcha.

00:18:13We want to run a four-inch pipe all the way from the top down here, and we'll have it

00:18:17suspended.

00:18:17That's going to streamline that whole process.

00:18:19We're looking at the spiral, concentrating spiral.

00:18:22Oh.

00:18:23So put it in place, put a sluice box in, in place of the table, and then out of the

00:18:28end

00:18:28it goes into a catch bin, pump that material up to the top of the spiral, cut the heavies

00:18:32out of the spiral.

00:18:33We know you ran a sluice box before, you were getting a little bit of, you know, loss.

00:18:38Very over.

00:18:38Yeah.

00:18:39And that's fine.

00:18:40But if we can get your production up by two, three, four hundred percent.

00:18:43Exactly.

00:18:44That 10, 15 percent loss, really, it's not a big deal when you're running that much more

00:18:48material.

00:18:48And then on top of that, you know, you're going to get to a point where you're going

00:18:51to have a hard time with that vein, with that little roto hammer.

00:18:55So we got a guy back home that actually does a lot of blasting with us with that little blaster.

00:18:59Oh.

00:19:00And we're going to get him up here and he's going to teach you guys how to use it properly.

00:19:03That's awesome.

00:19:05Well, what we came up with as far as costs go, we're thinking it's going to be around 7,000

00:19:11of materials.

00:19:12For the labor.

00:19:13We're thinking about four ounces at the end of the season.

00:19:15You don't need to pay it now, but at the end of the season.

00:19:16That is not going to be an issue.

00:19:18If the production goes up and we can get the gold, we can make it work.

00:19:21Okay.

00:19:22Yeah.

00:19:22I think we can.

00:19:23We have to.

00:19:25You like it then?

00:19:26Yes.

00:19:26I absolutely love it.

00:19:28Well, let's go start getting material, huh?

00:19:29Yeah.

00:19:29Let's make phone calls.

00:19:30Perfect.

00:19:31Sounds great, guys.

00:19:32Hey, no problem.

00:19:33No problem.

00:19:34Talk to you guys in a bit.

00:19:35All right.

00:19:35Sounds good.

00:19:39Kiss me.

00:19:40Come here.

00:19:43The amount of work that they have to do, it seems pretty big.

00:19:49Fingers crossed that with these ideas, we can get them all completed and checked off and

00:19:53get a gold weigh at the end that we could actually weigh.

00:19:59Let's get a rough guess on how far it is down there.

00:20:03First job, measure how much pipe they'll need to carry ore from Level 3 down to Level

00:20:092.

00:20:10And Freddie has some tech to help.

00:20:13Yeah, if you can range down to that road, Fred will kind of give us an idea.

00:20:17Primarily used for hunting, Freddie's rangefinder scope uses a laser beam to measure distances

00:20:23accurately.

00:20:25What are we to the road?

00:20:2633 yards to the center of the road.

00:20:28100 feet.

00:20:30Yeah.

00:20:30What do you think?

00:20:31Another 50, 60?

00:20:32Yeah, let's go 80 just to be sure.

00:20:34Yeah.

00:20:35So we'll string a cable from up here, get it down, and then we'll actually start here

00:20:39and start sliding our pipe down.

00:20:41Then raise it.

00:20:42Yep.

00:20:43I like it.

00:20:43Then pull it tight.

00:20:44That'll work.

00:20:45Well, that gives us a better idea of what's going on.

00:20:47The rangefinder beats the heck out of climbing down that cliff.

00:20:50I didn't want to go down that cliff.

00:20:52All right.

00:20:53The tape measure.

00:20:57Unable to get his truck up to the claim, Juan sets up base at the foot of the mountain.

00:21:03I'm here in Leavenworth, Washington.

00:21:05And calls local boneyards for a critical piece of kit.

00:21:09We have a little bit of a project going on, and I need some help.

00:21:12Okay, sir.

00:21:13Here's the deal.

00:21:13We're going to need some concentrating spirals.

00:21:15Okay.

00:21:16So I'm really hoping that you guys have some there.

00:21:18I'm not sure right now.

00:21:20Let me check with Andy, my mom.

00:21:21Okay.

00:21:21Can you come in tomorrow?

00:21:22Yeah.

00:21:23Okay.

00:21:24I'll see you in the morning then.

00:21:25Okay, sir.

00:21:26Bye.

00:21:30Hello.

00:21:32As Freddie and Juan begin the last-ditch fixes to save Levi's dreams.

00:21:37How are you doing?

00:21:39Good.

00:21:40Levi's mom, Mary, makes a surprise visit.

00:21:43Good to see you.

00:21:45How are you?

00:21:46I'm good.

00:21:47How are you?

00:21:48Good.

00:21:49My mom is my best friend.

00:21:51She's been at my side this whole time being up here.

00:21:54She knows that it's a dream of mine, and she has just pushed me forward to keep going for it.

00:21:59I brought my little picker-upper.

00:22:02Is that okay?

00:22:03Yeah.

00:22:03We've been trying to keep up as much as possible.

00:22:05I know.

00:22:05You do a good job.

00:22:08I just love him being up here and doing what he wants to do.

00:22:12And sometimes he might feel down a little because he is investing everything that he has practically,

00:22:18but it doesn't bother me because I know he's going to pop right back up.

00:22:22He's such a hard worker.

00:22:23He will make it work.

00:22:25I also bought a surprise for you.

00:22:27What's that?

00:22:28Well, I was digging through some stuff, and you haven't seen this since you were like seven.

00:22:35Oh, you're going to be so excited.

00:22:39Look at that.

00:22:40I wrote this?

00:22:41Yes.

00:22:42It says if I made a million, I would spend it because I want to have lots of toys.

00:22:48Then I would buy a hundred pieces of gold.

00:22:59I know exactly what you're doing today.

00:23:06You're not buying it, though.

00:23:09Isn't that precious?

00:23:11Did I ever talk about gold growing up?

00:23:13You did have a shovel to dig every time we went to a river looking for gold.

00:23:19I'm impressed.

00:23:20Well, it shows that I've had this infatuation with gold ever since I could write, and it made

00:23:27me go, well, I've been having this dream for a very long time, and I'm finally doing it.

00:23:32I have all the faith in the world that he can do it.

00:23:36You know, he's always called it his dream.

00:23:38I don't think it's any longer a dream.

00:23:40I think that dream is here.

00:23:47Coming up.

00:23:48All those coming off good?

00:23:50So far.

00:23:51Oh, I hope there's still gold in here.

00:23:53Freddy sends Levi on a treasure hunt.

00:23:56All right, get in there.

00:23:56Oh, wow.

00:24:12So this is a mine rescue first.

00:24:14I'm a little nervous, but it's worth a shot.

00:24:18In Washington state, Juan follows up his lead for some equipment that could be a game changer

00:24:24for Levi's mine.

00:24:25We've never used a spiral concentrator before.

00:24:29We're really hoping it's going to give them that edge that they need to be able to run

00:24:33more material.

00:24:36Invented by Ira B. Humphreys in 1943, the concentrating spiral was a common site on wash plants in the

00:24:4340s and 50s.

00:24:45It uses gravity and water to separate heavy gold from lighter waste material.

00:24:52Pay dirt pumped to the top of the spiral descends down the chute.

00:24:57As pay swirls to the ground, the centrifugal force created by the spiral pushes the lighter waste material up to

00:25:05the outer edges, while heavier gold clings to the inside, before dropping into a series of ports to carry the

00:25:13gold away from processing.

00:25:16You know, unless they can actually get their throughput up, they're going to have a hard time making it out

00:25:20there.

00:25:2220 miles from the claim, Juan inspects the 80-year-old spirals to make sure they are still usable.

00:25:28That's them, huh?

00:25:31These are pretty cool.

00:25:32They're cast iron.

00:25:33They're going to be heavy, but I'm just going to use the one.

00:25:36So I'll use the better of the bunch.

00:25:38We can refinish that.

00:25:39So I'm probably going to clean it and repaint them, recoat them.

00:25:42Yeah.

00:25:42Because you want it as smooth as possible.

00:25:44But really, they're in good shape.

00:25:45We'll take them.

00:25:47Thank you, Andy.

00:25:48My pleasure.

00:25:49Awesome.

00:25:53They're heavy.

00:25:56A little more, a little more.

00:25:57Perfect.

00:26:01That's good.

00:26:02So there's actually three on this stand.

00:26:05But really, we only need the one.

00:26:06So we'll get this one cut off, finish the stand for it, and we'll just use the one.

00:26:15We want to make sure that this thing is strapped down right to the trailer so we don't lose it.

00:26:21It's a beautiful piece, though.

00:26:22It really is.

00:26:23I'm sure it collected a lot of gold over the years.

00:26:25Either way, it's a piece of history that's going to get put back into play.

00:26:30We don't know how it's going to work until we get it in place and actually run it.

00:26:33I'm hoping that we'll be able to run more material, ultimately getting more gold for them.

00:26:48Back at the claim, Freddie and Levi start their investigation into the ground.

00:26:54Definitely, you've got to go down here and meet Clint Black.

00:26:56So he knows a lot of the history of the area here, then?

00:26:59Yeah, he taught me a lot about the stuff up in here.

00:27:03Afternoon, Clint.

00:27:04How's it going?

00:27:06Good.

00:27:06How are you doing?

00:27:07Clint?

00:27:07Hey, Greg.

00:27:08Glad to meet you.

00:27:09Thanks for letting me pick your brain.

00:27:11Thanks for coming.

00:27:13How long you been up here?

00:27:14I first came up in 1990.

00:27:17Got my first claim in 94.

00:27:20So when was gold first discovered in the area, Clint?

00:27:22Well, the first quartz vein was found by a soldier in 1854, but in 1874, the first mining claim at

00:27:30the top was put in.

00:27:31So have they pulled quite a bit of gold off this mountain here?

00:27:33The total is 851,000 ounces about.

00:27:37So that's a lot of gold.

00:27:39It could open pit this whole hill and it'd be half an ounce to a ton average.

00:27:43So when you look at the equipment that's been brought up here, you know, that's always been that telltale to

00:27:48me that that was the vein that all the people wanted to mine.

00:27:51You were telling me a story, Clint, about that ball mill up there.

00:27:55We've been talking about that because they supposedly produced 48,000 ounces of gold.

00:28:01Halfway up the mountain on Levi's property is a 25-ton ball mill from the 1940s, used to bulk crush

00:28:10material into a fine powder before being run over a table.

00:28:14Ball mills were introduced in the 1930s to process huge volumes of ore, with steel balls pulverizing ore as the

00:28:23drum rotates.

00:28:26How long has it been since that ball mill ran?

00:28:281985.

00:28:30It ran 25-ton a day.

00:28:32You're kind of curious to see if that ball mill still works?

00:28:35I don't know, but maybe.

00:28:37If Levi and Corey can get the ball mill working, the sky's the limit for them.

00:28:42That's exactly it.

00:28:43I have to crawl in there and look around, I guess.

00:28:45I think the future for Levi's pretty bright here because, you know, it's never really been taken advantage of all

00:28:51the way.

00:28:53Thank you very much for your time, sir.

00:28:55Oh, yeah.

00:28:56It's been a pleasure.

00:28:57Good seeing you.

00:28:58Yep, same here.

00:28:58Good luck up there.

00:28:59All right, thank you.

00:29:02With Freddie talking to Clint, we're hoping he's got a lot better insight about the area and the records and

00:29:09the past production,

00:29:10showing that the values are here and that it is very possible to make this a very good, lucrative operation.

00:29:22At the bottom of the mountain...

00:29:25Why, hello!

00:29:26Oh, hey, guys.

00:29:27Happy to see you guys.

00:29:29Alex and Travis arrive to help.

00:29:32Now that you guys are here, we've got a lot of work to do.

00:29:37First job.

00:29:39Oh, yeah, she's good.

00:29:40She's happy.

00:29:42Juan's 10-foot-tall spiral gold catchers need to be customized for Levi's plant.

00:29:48All right, coming down.

00:29:50All we need is one spiral.

00:29:52So we're going to use this bowl.

00:29:53This one's in the best shape of the bunch.

00:29:55But let's get everything unbolted here, cut it right there, and we'll cut it down here on the C as

00:29:59well, on the bottom frame.

00:30:00So this will be a standalone unit.

00:30:04Only one spiral is required.

00:30:06So first task is to separate it from the main unit.

00:30:19All right, guys.

00:30:22Perfect.

00:30:24So now that we got this cut off, we're actually going to make a little wider base for it so

00:30:27we can get it up to the mine site without losing it.

00:30:39So this is the ball mill?

00:30:40Yeah.

00:30:41I'm not too, uh, up on the information on them, you know?

00:30:45You know, I know they, uh, processed a lot of ore out of it.

00:30:49Fingers crossed.

00:30:49Hot on the trail of the old timers, Freddie checks the viability of the old ball mill for Levi's operation.

00:30:58Yeah, so here it is.

00:30:59Yep.

00:31:01Ball mill.

00:31:02Yep.

00:31:02Rusty and rat piece, known as ever.

00:31:05Probably took them a year to get it in here.

00:31:07Yeah, I'm just thinking the mules, feeling bad for them.

00:31:16That's not going to work.

00:31:19The ball mill requires too much work to bring back online for Levi's operation.

00:31:26We're definitely not going to be able to move this or fix it in the time we're here.

00:31:30What you might do, though, is pull the liners out inside and, uh, see if there's gold behind them.

00:31:37I've done that before.

00:31:39Inside the drum there?

00:31:40Yep.

00:31:40I pulled 40 ounces from liners one time underneath.

00:31:44There's small enough cracks that fine gold can get in behind them and just keep rocks hammer it.

00:31:49Makes sense.

00:31:49Keeps pressing it in there.

00:31:50Well, yeah, I mean, the gold's going to find those cracks and drop it in, right?

00:31:53Yep.

00:31:54So, see what lives behind them.

00:31:55I think Cory and I will definitely like doing that.

00:31:58You just kind of just sparked a little adventure in me, so.

00:32:00Yeah.

00:32:01See how much gold's behind them.

00:32:03Yeah.

00:32:03But it should have some.

00:32:05When we looked at the ball mill, it's a dead end, but it's got liners in it, right?

00:32:10And there's gaps between the liners.

00:32:12So, what's gold do?

00:32:13It wants to fall to the lowest place, right?

00:32:16Who knows what's in there?

00:32:19It could be a bonanza.

00:32:21It could be a dead end, but there's only one way to find out, and that's pull one of those

00:32:24liners and see what lives in there.

00:32:27That ball mill hasn't been opened up since the 80s, so you never know.

00:32:30It could be empty.

00:32:31It could be cleaned out, but there may be some gold that are still left in there for us.

00:32:35Gold fever makes you chase things, so we're going to go for it.

00:32:51The vein's pretty oxidized, so it's softer.

00:32:54Up the mountain, Levi gets gold-bearing surface ore ready for the second test.

00:33:00I mean, a lot of this stuff, if you can break up in your hands, it falls apart.

00:33:04But he faces a real problem.

00:33:06You know, as he gets further and further into that vein, it's going to get harder and harder.

00:33:10So I brought Travis up. Travis is going to help him out.

00:33:12We're going to teach him together how to use this blasting system.

00:33:15You don't need special licensing, and you can just get it online.

00:33:18The Sierra Blaster uses electronic ignition rather than dynamite, which is banned in Washington State.

00:33:26High-velocity cartridges placed deep within the rock shatter it from inside.

00:33:31So, Levi, you know, Travis actually, before working for us, this is what he did for a living.

00:33:35He was working underground blasting rock.

00:33:37We actually have a system that's a little different.

00:33:40It uses a really small electrical charge, and that small electrical charge ignites boosters.

00:33:45As you can see, you know, these are no bigger than a firework, but they're pretty effective.

00:33:50With the hard quartz yet to be exposed in Levi's vein...

00:33:54How far are you going to go in with your drill?

00:33:56Maybe 17 inches.

00:33:57Yeah.

00:33:57Okay.

00:33:58Juan uses a boulder on the claim to teach Levi the ropes.

00:34:03How do you know where to start your holes?

00:34:04With your explosion, if you drill right on the fracture, it'll actually absorb some of that.

00:34:08That makes sense.

00:34:08So, if you go in solid material, it actually has nowhere to go.

00:34:11Okay.

00:34:11So, it has to split the rock.

00:34:13Gotcha.

00:34:15Inserting the cartridge into solid rock maximizes the force of the blast.

00:34:20So, what we do is we put your boosters in first, and then you use your cartridge here,

00:34:24and then he actually has to run his generator to be able to run his igniter.

00:34:28A real simple system, but pretty effective.

00:34:31Yeah.

00:34:31I'm going to...

00:34:32Booster's in.

00:34:36And a cap.

00:34:38You know, Levi, this is really going to help you out in the future.

00:34:40When you get into the vein, and it gets harder and harder...

00:34:43That's true.

00:34:43...that little chipping hammer is not going to be enough.

00:34:45Exactly.

00:34:46So, that's the important part there to make sure that wire is in the groove.

00:34:51We come in and we make our connection.

00:34:54Then you put your blast shield back over the top of that.

00:35:00I'm excited to watch this go down.

00:35:02All the way down, it's usually the back of the hole.

00:35:05So, right now everything's all loaded in the hole.

00:35:09Almost ready to tie in and let it rip.

00:35:12In less than 10 minutes, the blasting system is primed.

00:35:16I got one question.

00:35:18You're going to let me fire it, right?

00:35:20Sure.

00:35:20There we go.

00:35:21It's your mind sight.

00:35:23It's hard to ask.

00:35:24Well, let's do it.

00:35:25I got to.

00:35:27Levi, since there is no timing in this setup, you just plug it in, bring your core back, and hit

00:35:33the button.

00:35:38Fired in three, two, one.

00:35:44Nice.

00:35:48That looks really good, Trav.

00:35:49Put a good-sized crack in her.

00:35:50Yeah.

00:35:51Well, Levi, you can actually see right here this crack that developed right through where we blasted.

00:35:55All the way up.

00:35:56All the way up.

00:35:56Yeah.

00:35:57Right around the holes.

00:35:57So, it actually did really well.

00:35:59It did.

00:36:00There's a lot of fractures in there.

00:36:01You can see them.

00:36:02Well, it's going to be a game changer for you.

00:36:04Now that you know how to use this, you know, the sky's the limit.

00:36:06The blaster gives Levi a shortcut to the deeper gold veins on the mountain.

00:36:12That's amazing.

00:36:13I appreciate that.

00:36:14Yeah.

00:36:14No problem.

00:36:15The arms get tired with the roto hammer.

00:36:16Yeah, they do.

00:36:18Thank you, Trav.

00:36:19No problem.

00:36:20Thank you, Travis.

00:36:22I know that the quartz vein is going to get a lot harder as I progress into the mountain.

00:36:26Right now, it's pretty soft.

00:36:28And so, I would say within the next couple of feet as we work it, I won't be able to

00:36:32operate with the tools that I have.

00:36:34And what they brought up for me is really going to help us out with our operation now.

00:36:50Coming down.

00:36:51Fingers and toes.

00:36:52Back at Fick's headquarters, the team get to work on the 10-foot spiral.

00:36:58We're making a flat form.

00:37:00It's going to stabilize it so it can't tip over nearly as easy.

00:37:04And at the same time, makes it taller.

00:37:06So our discharge has more elevation.

00:37:10Mine lined up for your liking?

00:37:12I think so.

00:37:13I'm going to drill some holes in the bottom and then put some lag bolts in.

00:37:22I'm going to use this soap so we don't split that wood.

00:37:27We've got to have some fun along the way, though.

00:37:31Lubricating the bolts with soapy liquid helps prevent damage to the wooden frame.

00:37:37Last mold, Alex.

00:37:39Nice.

00:37:48So, what do we got here?

00:37:50It's the camp, huh?

00:37:51Yep.

00:37:52It's a minor standard of living.

00:37:54Blasting lesson complete.

00:37:56Juan checks in with Corey at their mine campsite, their mountain home, four nights a week from April to October.

00:38:04It's crazy, but you guys are really living life kind of like the old timers did.

00:38:08What better life than to be up here in the woods digging gold out of the ground?

00:38:12It shows the length that a man will go to to be able to provide for his family.

00:38:16That's for sure, you know.

00:38:17I mean, being away from the wife and kids and stuff, it's really tough.

00:38:23For Levi and I, this could definitely be life-changing for both of us.

00:38:27We've had a lot of plans, but I'm not getting paid while I'm up here.

00:38:32Got a nest egg at home to help pay the bills while I'm here.

00:38:35But if this doesn't work, I'll be starting back at ground zero again.

00:38:40Counting on the claim's success is Corey's son, Brennan.

00:38:44He can't wait to get up here.

00:38:47And keeping it within the family would be amazing.

00:38:51Brennan was three when I came into his life.

00:38:55Amazing little kid.

00:38:58I met his mother when I was 23.

00:39:02Really the girl of my dreams.

00:39:06In 2016, she had a brain aneurysm, and she was within two and a half days, she had passed.

00:39:17It's something that's made us stronger, having to pull together, you know.

00:39:22Raising Brennan and his sister single-handed, Corey's luck turned when he met his second wife, who he married in

00:39:292022.

00:39:32It's hard to strike gold twice, as they say, you know, but I've been very, very fortunate with the two

00:39:39women that were part of my life.

00:39:41And ultimately, I want to be a good dad and be able to be there for my kids and be

00:39:47a good role model at the same time.

00:39:53I'm super proud of Brennan because it's all right.

00:39:58It's all right.

00:40:00I've had the pleasure and honor of being his dad.

00:40:04And he's made me so damn proud.

00:40:07He can't wait to get up here.

00:40:10And if this works, he will be able to be up here and work with me, you know, more quality

00:40:17time together.

00:40:18That's one of my dreams.

00:40:19You know, one day have my children, you know, with me.

00:40:23Well, I'm hoping that you got years to come to be able to be out here with Brennan and be

00:40:27able to do this and make a good living.

00:40:30Thank you, Juan.

00:40:31All right, brother.

00:40:38You know, coming down here and talking to Corey a little bit kind of puts a lot of things in

00:40:42perspective.

00:40:43It means the world to him to be out here wanting to capitalize on the time that he can spend

00:40:47with his son and just to keep on growing that bond and to remember his wife.

00:40:53At the end of the day, I'm a father. I'm a husband.

00:40:56And, you know, to see someone going through those struggles, I can't imagine that for myself.

00:41:02To me, it makes us want to work even harder for him and help him out.

00:41:22The start of another day.

00:41:25There's not enough room on that mountain to work and that's really making it a hindrance.

00:41:29And everything here is time consuming because of the logistics of it.

00:41:32But we'll just keep plugging along here and keep building stuff.

00:41:364,000 feet below the buttery claim, while Freddy works on the spirals, Juan begins the centerpiece of Levi's modified

00:41:45wash plan.

00:41:46I'm just getting the pieces lined up for the sluice box.

00:41:49It's going to be 12 inches wide, 6 inches tall by almost 8 foot long.

00:41:54The reason we're going 12 inches wide, based on the material that he's got coming out of that hammer mill,

00:41:59with a 12 inch wide sluice, we should be able to handle all the material.

00:42:02Right now, the way he has his system set up, it only allows him to be able to run less

00:42:06than 100 pounds an hour.

00:42:07We're hoping by adding the sluice and then using the concentrating spirals, we should be able to double, triple or

00:42:13even quadruple that.

00:42:14So, it should be a big increase for him.

00:42:21So, we're cutting all the pieces out for the sluice box.

00:42:25You know, when we travel, we travel with a little bit of steel, so we want to try to make

00:42:28sure that we maximize every square inch of this plate.

00:42:42So, these are the pieces that we cut out for the sluice box.

00:42:44We're getting them all trued up at a 90.

00:42:46We're going to get them tacked, then we're going to put the ribs on and fully welded.

00:42:54I put the ribs in, install the ribs, before I do the full weld.

00:42:58Because if you do the full weld, it'll want to pull.

00:43:00So, by putting the ribs in first, it'll keep that down to a minimum.

00:43:04Juan welds on horizontal pieces, known as ribs, to ensure the sluice holds its shape during and after construction.

00:43:13Finished.

00:43:13So, we got the box all welded up, we're going to set it down.

00:43:16We're going to start getting all the riffles in it, getting everything cut, so that way we got it all

00:43:19set up.

00:43:20So, when we get it up to the top of the hill, we can get it installed and be that

00:43:23much closer to running.

00:43:30This ball mill hasn't been opened up since the 80s.

00:43:33We're kind of excited to see what's in there.

00:43:36Up at the ball mill, Levi follows Freddy's tip to search for gold behind the drums' liners.

00:43:43Corey and I are going to tap into it. You know, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

00:43:46So, we're going to see what's going on.

00:43:48All those coming off good.

00:43:50So far.

00:43:53Oh, I hope there's still gold in here.

00:43:56That would be amazing, wouldn't it?

00:43:58I wouldn't say no. Fingers crossed.

00:44:00Yeah.

00:44:03All right. First nuts off.

00:44:08Now you're going to take the washers off. I'm just going to pull up.

00:44:16There is two liners left. Those bolts are the liners. Oh, wow.

00:44:23Hey. Let's find out so we can see what's in there.

00:44:27Oh, wow. Look at that.

00:44:29Look, look. Look at how thick that is right there.

00:44:31The material?

00:44:32Yeah. That's it right there.

00:44:34Oh, yeah.

00:44:37We're going to have to try to turn this so we can get those bolts to us.

00:44:41Oh.

00:44:42Oh, this is going to be crazy.

00:44:44To unscrew the liners, they have to rotate the 25-ton ball mill to get the bolts beneath the drum,

00:44:51which hasn't turned in 40 years.

00:44:55Oh, boy. Let's hope this thing turns.

00:44:57If anything's going to make this thing move, it should be this.

00:45:01All right.

00:45:02Here we go. Get ready for pressure.

00:45:05Watch yourself. You good?

00:45:07It's just skin.

00:45:10You need to try something else.

00:45:19Stand's finished.

00:45:20We've extended the footprint of this spiral by using this wood.

00:45:25That'll make it more stable every direction.

00:45:28Got to get the dirt out of it first.

00:45:30At Fick's headquarters, Freddie and Alex continue the spiral refurb.

00:45:35There's about 9,400 of these made, and most of them are still in use today.

00:45:39Hardly any of them are used today.

00:45:42According to the Internet, it says most of these are still in use.

00:45:44Don't believe everything you see on the Internet.

00:45:48Freddie has to clear 80 years of debris from the spiral's pipes before it's usable.

00:45:54This pipe's packed up with stuff.

00:45:56I've been beating on it with a hammer to no avail.

00:45:59We'll give it a colonoscopy and a throat check here and try to get all the out of it.

00:46:14You're maybe an inch or two into the blockage.

00:46:17But if you feel up in there, that's all rubber.

00:46:19It feels like the pipe collapsed on itself or something.

00:46:22No bueno!

00:46:23The 80-year-old rubber lining has collapsed into the pipe.

00:46:28We're just out of time, so just got to do whatever we can to get this going.

00:46:38Roll a little more.

00:46:40That's better.

00:46:44Right now there's a rubber liner in this pipe that's collapsed onto itself, and we can't get it removed, so

00:46:50I'm going to try to burn it out of there.

00:46:52At 5,700 degrees Fahrenheit, Freddie's oxyacetylene blowtorch burns through the antique rubber.

00:47:00Tap it on it now. Do anything with the hammer?

00:47:03It ain't going to hurt anything.

00:47:06Hit it some more.

00:47:11A bunch of it right here.

00:47:20That's clean.

00:47:21There we go.

00:47:22Son of a gun.

00:47:24It's always something, huh?

00:47:25Always something.

00:47:26Never easy.

00:47:27It worked better than anticipated, so I'm happy with that.

00:47:38I'm building the legs for the sluice.

00:47:40That way we'll be able to put this under the box and be able to adjust the pitch and also

00:47:44the height.

00:47:45Juan works on the final step of his sluice build.

00:47:50The hard part about not being able to fabricate on site is we don't have the exact measurements, so we're

00:47:54going to make it all adjustable.

00:47:57This has got to be one of the bigger builds that Freddie and I have ever done for a rescue,

00:48:00so I'm hoping that everything that we build is going to go into place and work properly because, really, we

00:48:05got one chance at it.

00:48:08It's a little nerve-wracking because, really, we put all this work and effort into it, but ultimately we don't

00:48:13know until we get everything up there, get it in place, and run the plant.

00:48:21Oh, boy.

00:48:24Up the mountain, Levi and Cory use a makeshift lever to turn the ball mill.

00:48:31Oh, my gosh, I can't believe the thing's dirty.

00:48:36Let's go one more.

00:48:37Okay.

00:48:38Hold on, let me get a bite.

00:48:39Yeah, me too.

00:48:40Okay, I'm ready.

00:48:44I'm feeling pretty excited right now knowing that there's two plates in here.

00:48:48Can't get it off fast enough.

00:48:51All right, let's start beating on it.

00:48:53Shot number one.

00:49:04They're in there.

00:49:08We're trying to get this steel to expand with the heat, and when it cools down, it'll contract, and hopefully

00:49:15we can get it to break that bond because this thing does not want to go.

00:49:19Oh, they are seized in there.

00:49:23We're a whack.

00:49:26Oh, she's going.

00:49:28I hear stuff falling.

00:49:33Oh, she's going.

00:49:35Oh, yeah.

00:49:37Oh, all right, all right, all right.

00:49:38Give it that.

00:49:41Oh!

00:49:44All right, get in there.

00:49:47Oh, wow.

00:49:50Oh, wow, this thing is built.

00:50:05It's got a lot of dust on it.

00:50:07At the Buttery Mine, Levi and Corey pull the linings of the old ball mill.

00:50:12This is the stuff that...

00:50:14That's what...

00:50:15That's what they were getting at.

00:50:16Freddie was talking about there.

00:50:17In between the plates, you'll have this conglomerate.

00:50:20Conglomerate is a compact mass of material.

00:50:23In this case, years of rock, dust, and gold that has set almost like concrete to the inside of the

00:50:31ball mill drum.

00:50:32Look at the colors in that, Corey.

00:50:35That's amazing.

00:50:36Oh, you can't see gold.

00:50:38Yeah, dude, that's awesome.

00:50:40I mean, if you can see right there, imagine how much could potentially be inside all of that.

00:50:45Right on the edge there, between the metal shavings, you can start seeing little pieces of yellow.

00:50:49That's amazing, dude.

00:50:50They see colors in there.

00:50:53You son of a gun, you man.

00:50:56That's awesome.

00:50:57Let's just go crush this stuff.

00:51:00Freddie giving me the information about the ball mill, it was huge.

00:51:03Huge.

00:51:04I had no idea.

00:51:06Hopefully, we could find some gold in there.

00:51:07It could be life-changing or season-changing for Corey and I.

00:51:16At Fix headquarters...

00:51:18We're running out of time.

00:51:20Today's the absolute last day we have to work on this.

00:51:22We just got to get it up to the mountain.

00:51:25The race is on to complete Freddie and Juan's most epic fix yet.

00:51:31180 feet of pipe connecting two levels of the butchery mine.

00:51:37A brand new wash plant with custom-made sluice.

00:51:41And a spiral concentrator, which Freddie and Alex are fine-tuning.

00:51:47Right now, Levi is crushing quartz.

00:51:50Quartz is mainly white.

00:51:51So you won't be able to see if you're cutting the quartz out properly.

00:51:55If we get it painted green, you can see your blacks and your browns and your whites and your reds

00:51:59and the gold.

00:52:01Right?

00:52:03Paint dry.

00:52:04Freddie's last addition.

00:52:06Just trying to make this hose a little more pliable.

00:52:10It's pretty stiff right now, so just trying to warm it up a little bit.

00:52:16Just using some bubble soap to try to make it slick as well.

00:52:22It wouldn't go on before.

00:52:25Just using a bungee cord on this one to pull it back to get that material more centered.

00:52:30In our pan here.

00:52:33Generic, but we don't have time to make proper brackets and stuff, but it'll work.

00:52:37It'll work just fine.

00:52:43Juan's final piece of preparation, making 48 brackets for the ambitious chute build.

00:52:50So what I did was I designed a flap, but this is the tab that's actually going to screw into

00:52:54the pipe.

00:52:54You can see right now it's right in the middle of where the pipe's going to go, but you see

00:52:58this relief cut on these top corners.

00:53:00It allows me to be able to bend that flat at a 90, and then it looks like that.

00:53:06So it's actually right in line with the circle where the pipe's going to go through, and then it gives

00:53:11me the chance to be able to put a fastening screw to the top of the pipe.

00:53:18And we're good to go.

00:53:21I don't think we'll get that pipeline up there in one day.

00:53:25That's a two-day job, that pipe.

00:53:28I think we get it done in a day, Fred.

00:53:30The pipe?

00:53:30Yeah.

00:53:33What are we betting on?

00:53:34Steak dinner.

00:53:35Steak dinner.

00:53:36Okay, I think we can get it done in a day.

00:53:39All right.

00:53:39It's on.

00:53:40Love you, bud.

00:53:41Love you too, Freddy.

00:53:43With their trucks unable to climb the mountain trail, ATVs and loaders haul the builds.

00:53:50Well, here we go.

00:53:52Yeah, it's pretty tight here.

00:53:55I'm sure glad we have these, we don't have to walk up this.

00:53:58It's just how tough the old timers were up.

00:54:01Well, there's Juan.

00:54:04Trimming trees.

00:54:06The ground's pretty loose too, Fred.

00:54:08It's starting to spin, Juan. She's getting pretty muddy.

00:54:10Yeah, it is.

00:54:13Think you need to make it up there?

00:54:15Only one way to find out, huh?

00:54:20Hope Juan doesn't tip that son of a gun over.

00:54:32Atta boy, Juan.

00:54:36This is a steep, sharp turn, Freddy.

00:54:39Yeah.

00:54:40This might be the one that bites us in the hind quarters right here.

00:54:47Let's pick it up.

00:54:48Yep.

00:54:55Go ahead, Freddy.

00:55:03Sure hope that's the last one of those.

00:55:04Yeah.

00:55:10Oh my goodness.

00:55:12Almost there.

00:55:13One more back switch back.

00:55:19Ooh, that's a tight one.

00:55:28Well, the great news is we got it all up here.

00:55:30Tomorrow morning, we're ready to rock and roll.

00:55:32It's gonna be a rough couple days.

00:55:35We're gonna have to blow and go.

00:55:36Cory and I are ready to go.

00:55:38See you in the morning, guys.

00:55:42All right.

00:55:42I'm super excited to see everything work.

00:55:44With everything in front of us, I just don't, I don't want to get my hopes up.

00:55:57All right, well, we'll get going on it.

00:55:58We'll see how you are about lunchtime.

00:56:00Remember our bet.

00:56:01Steak dinner.

00:56:02All right, Freddy.

00:56:05For one to win the bet, the 180-foot pipe needs to be suspended by the end of the day.

00:56:11It's gonna be a pretty fun task, but it's gonna be some work.

00:56:15First things first, knock those branches down, get them out of the way, and we can start stringing the rest

00:56:21of the stuff down.

00:56:22For the pipe to have a straight path down the mountain, Alex is tasked with clearing the way.

00:56:27Hey, Alex.

00:56:28Yes, sir.

00:56:29See that tree you're leaning on?

00:56:31Yep.

00:56:32Knock it down.

00:56:47Let's undo that rope.

00:56:49Throw it as far as you can down so we don't have to walk down there.

00:56:52Okay.

00:56:54We're gonna put this rope down first because it's light.

00:56:57Then we'll tie the end onto the cable and we'll be able to drag the cable down.

00:57:01All right, Freddy, you wanna just go down there and I'll throw it down to you?

00:57:04Hopefully I can make it.

00:57:06Next step, running the cable that will suspend the pipe.

00:57:11Ready, big guy?

00:57:12Got one shot at this.

00:57:18Good draw, Alex.

00:57:20Feel good, isn't it?

00:57:22We got enough to pull the cable.

00:57:24Just tie it off to that tree.

00:57:27So once we get that steel cable threaded down the mountain, then we'll start putting our pipes and our hangers

00:57:32on it.

00:57:33And hopefully it all goes together good.

00:57:37Guide rope secure.

00:57:39The steel cable that suspends the pipe is lowered.

00:57:43Go easy, guys.

00:57:44Okay.

00:57:45Go ahead.

00:57:47Easy!

00:57:50Hang on one second.

00:57:52Easy!

00:57:55But before the cable's even halfway down...

00:57:58I think it might be a twig or a root.

00:58:01Up on top, it's snagged on.

00:58:02Right on that branch, huh?

00:58:04I mean, you're hooked over, like, about a foot on the downed rock up there.

00:58:12So low to the ground, it's actually running off the ground and down.

00:58:17Well, this is getting kind of frustrating for us because we thought this was gonna be a real simple job,

00:58:21but it's taking a lot longer than we want.

00:58:24I hope we can get that chute system down.

00:58:27A little worried about it.

00:58:42Hey, Levi, you got any tape?

00:58:44Duct tape?

00:58:45Just so this doesn't tangle in trees.

00:58:47Yes, down below.

00:58:48Yes.

00:58:49At the Buttery mine, the chute fix has hit a snag.

00:58:54The steel cable that will suspend it is getting caught up as it's lowered.

00:59:07Some duct tape.

00:59:08Perfect.

00:59:11When we get going again, having this taped up is gonna help us a bunch. If not, it's gonna be

00:59:15like an anchor digging in those rocks.

00:59:18Taping the ends of the steel cable prevents it snagging as it's dragged down.

00:59:23Okay.

00:59:24Go ahead.

00:59:32Easy!

00:59:35Cable's on the ground, Freddy!

00:59:37Okay, let's tie it off up here.

00:59:40We've got the cable attached up here and got it strung down the hill, so we gotta go run down

00:59:44there and then start cinching it tight and then make the connection there so we can start putting the pipe

00:59:49on.

00:59:54Down on level two, a radical refit is underway.

00:59:58All this coming off the impact mill, we're gonna have to remove all this, Corey.

01:00:01Okay.

01:00:02So we can go ahead and start getting all this cut apart.

01:00:04The old pipe and the shaker table are removed.

01:00:14You got her?

01:00:15Yep.

01:00:18With the table removed, Juan's new sluice can be installed.

01:00:23Let's get the legs for it.

01:00:27Perfect.

01:00:29All right, let's put it in.

01:00:35You want to give me the level?

01:00:38Okay, let's mark that, Corey.

01:00:42So we're just getting the sluice kind of set in place where it's gonna go and we're just gonna get

01:00:46it leveled up and get it at the right pitch that we need it.

01:00:49We made all the pieces so they're adjustable, that way it's easy to adjust them on the fly.

01:00:53So if you guys ever move the plant, you know, you can take it apart, move it and get it

01:00:56back up pretty quick.

01:01:02Perfect.

01:01:04We got this in, let's get all the fittings we need on the pumps and then we'll set up that

01:01:07spiral.

01:01:13As Juan plans the pad that will secure the spiral while it's operating, Corey's son Brennan arrives to check out

01:01:21the progress.

01:01:24Hey guys.

01:01:24Hey Juan, this is my son Brennan.

01:01:26Brennan, how you doing?

01:01:27Good, how are you?

01:01:27Juan, nice to meet you.

01:01:28Nice to meet you.

01:01:29You came just in time.

01:01:30Graduating high school and now going to minor school under Juan Ibarra.

01:01:33The school of hard knocks.

01:01:35Exactly.

01:01:36So you just graduated, huh?

01:01:37Yeah, two days ago.

01:01:38Congratulations.

01:01:39Excited to start mining.

01:01:41That's what I want to be, a miner, so.

01:01:44He's a great hard worker and he's very excited about this.

01:01:48My dad, he's a big part of my life.

01:01:51If Freddy and Juan turned this around, it would mean the whole world to my dad and family because my

01:01:55dad's made a whole bunch of sacrifices for all this.

01:01:59You know, family to tell is really happy for him, proud of him and I'm proud of him too.

01:02:05So you're going to spend the summer out here with your dad then?

01:02:07Yeah, that's my plan.

01:02:08Nice.

01:02:09When did you start mining?

01:02:10So I started mining in 2012, but I've been building stuff since, you know, since I was your age.

01:02:16That's cool.

01:02:17My dad actually bought me my first welder when I was, I must have been probably 13 or 14 years

01:02:21old.

01:02:22You know, we didn't have a whole lot of money growing up.

01:02:24If I wanted something, I'd have to build it myself.

01:02:25Well, if you had one piece of advice for Brennan starting up mining, what would that be?

01:02:30Don't take shortcuts.

01:02:31Don't take shortcuts?

01:02:32Anything that's ever come to bite me in my butt is when I take a shortcut.

01:02:35Right.

01:02:36You know, if you know there's a way to do it, do it right.

01:02:38You know, sometimes it takes a little longer, but don't take shortcuts.

01:02:41Alright.

01:02:43What I can have you guys start doing is, I think I want to set up that spiral maybe over

01:02:46here.

01:02:47Okay.

01:02:48Maybe take some of this hump off, try to level out some spot there.

01:02:51And that way we can put the spiral right here.

01:02:53Let's grab that shovel.

01:02:56While Brennan earns his mining stripes, his dad gets a master class in laying out a sluice.

01:03:02What you want to do is you want to overlap it.

01:03:04Like shingles on a roof, right?

01:03:07See how it's bowed?

01:03:08So you always want the bow to in the middle of it.

01:03:10So that way when we actually knock it down with the wedges, it tightens in pretty good.

01:03:20If you have too big of a gap underneath it, you'll actually get material flowing underneath the riffles.

01:03:25So what we're going to do here, we've got three different changes in your riffles.

01:03:29These riffles are tailored to that real fine gold that you guys are catching out of that ore.

01:03:33But that's not lost.

01:03:34If it's not caught here, it's going into this catch basin, which is going to get pumped to the top

01:03:38of that spiral.

01:03:39And they have another chance to get reconcentrated and get caught again in the spiral.

01:03:43Yeah, that's perfect.

01:03:44Perfect.

01:03:45Well, that looks good.

01:03:47Let's get that spiral in, huh?

01:03:51I like it.

01:03:53Almost like they know what they're doing.

01:03:59Force a little bit more.

01:04:03That's good.

01:04:06Perfect.

01:04:07That'll do.

01:04:08Yeah.

01:04:09Hopefully by doing what we did here, you know, we'll be able to increase your production.

01:04:12Two, three hundred percent.

01:04:14That'd be amazing.

01:04:15Really, that's a home run right there.

01:04:17Yeah.

01:04:18With work on the plant now complete, all attention turns to the chute build.

01:04:23Why don't we head up and give them a hand?

01:04:24Yeah, let's do it.

01:04:25Let's do it.

01:04:31Here we go.

01:04:32First one.

01:04:33On level three, the cable is in place and the first sections of the pipe are ready to be fed

01:04:39down.

01:04:41It'll work for now.

01:04:42Let's get our other brackets on.

01:04:45Thank you, sir.

01:04:50Okay, go up a little bit.

01:04:57It's good.

01:04:57I'm getting an arm work out.

01:04:59If you want to feed it down to me, I'll hook it up down here.

01:05:01Yep.

01:05:02Feed me.

01:05:04Nineteen sections of pipe must be connected and carefully lowered down the cable.

01:05:08Can you go up some more?

01:05:09Or no?

01:05:10Up higher?

01:05:11Yeah, I'm on my toes.

01:05:13Coming down?

01:05:14Coming down.

01:05:16Keep coming.

01:05:20This thing is coming along nicely.

01:05:24Let's just test it real quick, Fred.

01:05:25Throw some material in it.

01:05:26I will.

01:05:27Big old scoop, Fred.

01:05:37Yeah, she's coming out.

01:05:38She's coming out pretty good, Freddy.

01:05:40I can see it all.

01:05:40I can, too.

01:05:42Wow.

01:05:42Look at that.

01:05:44Perfect.

01:05:46Slowed down nicely, huh?

01:05:47That is perfect.

01:05:49You know, we were a little worried about that belly in the line, but she'll be fine.

01:05:52You know, and I think with the more material going down at it once, it'll help push all the other

01:05:56stuff down through, too.

01:05:57Yeah, it should.

01:05:58It sounded good going down it.

01:05:59Yeah, it didn't slow down one bit.

01:06:01That's awesome.

01:06:03Last piece of pipe.

01:06:05The last melon, as Travis would say.

01:06:07Yeah, right there, crab.

01:06:08Whoa.

01:06:10We got it done, Freddy.

01:06:12Good.

01:06:16I'm really happy for starting this project this morning to having the cable ran, having the pipe in, in one

01:06:21day.

01:06:22Then on top of that, I think I'm going to win the bet.

01:06:29Love you, Freddy.

01:06:29Love you, too, buddy.

01:06:46The important side of this is the top.

01:06:48Okay.

01:06:49Gotcha.

01:06:49Yep.

01:06:51Just so it doesn't slide and pull on that fitting.

01:06:54It's the final day on the buttery claim.

01:06:57But before the test run can begin, the last section of pipe must be installed.

01:07:02We still have a couple hours worth of work to do to get it installed.

01:07:05Hopefully, we can have a good test run today.

01:07:07I'm a little skeptical.

01:07:08We've got a lot to do.

01:07:10I'm just not sure if we're going to be able to complete that today.

01:07:14So what we're doing is we're going to attach the pipe.

01:07:17We're going to put the pipe on a little carabiner, and we're just going to lift it up and slide

01:07:21it into place.

01:07:25The last section of pipe needs to be precisely positioned so gold-bearing ore falls into the hammer mill.

01:07:33Okay.

01:07:33Come on.

01:07:33Let's do it fast.

01:07:35Lift it up.

01:07:37Pull.

01:07:37Pull your way.

01:07:40Okay, Trev.

01:07:41Get on.

01:07:42Alex's side.

01:07:44Guide it in.

01:07:46Lower a little bit.

01:07:48Alex.

01:07:48There you go.

01:07:49There we go.

01:07:52That's plenty.

01:07:53Okay.

01:07:53That's good.

01:07:55Well, now that we got that in, we can start getting everything else in.

01:07:58Alex, grab me the chute over there, please.

01:08:04This is going to be the chute that collects the material at the top of the hammer mill.

01:08:18It's pretty mind-blowing, actually.

01:08:21I feel like I'm just standing here with my mouth open, just staring at it.

01:08:33What I'm trying to do here, this material here, we're pumping it to the top of the spiral.

01:08:39While Juan finishes the chute, Freddy plums in the spiral.

01:08:45We're going to put this valve on.

01:08:47That way we can control that water and that slurry coming out of it.

01:08:51Just like with anything, you got to take control of the material and the water.

01:08:59We've got all the plumbing done.

01:09:01Juan's got the sluice in.

01:09:03He's just finishing up with a chute.

01:09:06It should be ready to run here fairly shortly.

01:09:12Well, there it is. Done.

01:09:14So we got the pipeline coming down.

01:09:17It feeds to the top of the chute.

01:09:18It's going to have a little bit of surge material here.

01:09:20As that material builds up, he'll be able to drag it with that hoe over into the hole,

01:09:24into the impact mill, and down the sluice.

01:09:28One week ago, Freddy and Juan saw a mine that was heavy on labor.

01:09:33The whole process has just taken so long.

01:09:36It's manual labor.

01:09:37And light on gold.

01:09:40There's a bit, Fred.

01:09:42That's not enough to weigh though.

01:09:46Now, the streamlined operation feeds directly into the hammer mill.

01:09:51So Levi and Corey should be able to run triple the amount of pay per hour,

01:09:57transforming their operation.

01:10:00We've got the pipeline.

01:10:02Yeah, it looks really cool, doesn't it?

01:10:03Those hangers really add to it.

01:10:06We made this quick little transition chute to go from the chute coming off the bottom of your jaw into

01:10:11the pipe.

01:10:11I'm hoping that the vibration from your jaw, I'm hoping that's enough to be able to help that material move

01:10:16down.

01:10:17You guys know as well as I do, this pipeline chute was a lot of work.

01:10:20You know, first string of rope, then clearing trees, then hanging pipe.

01:10:26The amount of material you can get down to the hammer mill now compared to what you had to do

01:10:29before,

01:10:30you can get that whole cart there in a few hours.

01:10:34Having it in place, the amount of work that it's cutting out for us.

01:10:38Well, this is just what we did up top.

01:10:40Why don't we head down below and take a look at what we did down at the plant.

01:10:43Perfect, so I'll take a plan.

01:10:48We've got a lot going on, guys.

01:10:50Obviously starting with the pipeline that comes down from the jaw.

01:10:52That looks amazing.

01:10:54It drops down into this little chute.

01:10:56This chute's going to be kind of a surge chute.

01:10:58So as material builds up, whoever's down here can start feeding the hammer mill.

01:11:03Then that material's going to go down a sluice box now instead of the table.

01:11:07There's multiple riffle configurations in there.

01:11:10So then it drops off that sluice box and goes into a bin with a pump.

01:11:14That pump's going to pump that material to the top of the spiral, and then the spiral will do its

01:11:19thing.

01:11:19It'll have a chance to be able to capture the remaining bit of the gold that's in there.

01:11:23This looks amazing.

01:11:24Yeah, you did a great job.

01:11:26We're at the point now, guys.

01:11:28We need to do a test run.

01:11:29You guys ready?

01:11:29I'm ready. Let's do it.

01:11:30Let's see what happens.

01:11:31All right.

01:11:36These fixes are astonishing.

01:11:37That chute alone is game-changing for us.

01:11:41I have a feeling that when we start our test run now, it's going to be a good one.

01:11:47Are you going to fire it up, Corey?

01:11:48Yup, we're ready.

01:11:49Right on.

01:11:53She's humming.

01:11:56Let's run some.

01:11:57See what it does.

01:11:58All right.

01:11:58Start sending some material.

01:12:04How's that?

01:12:07Beautiful.

01:12:12Rock's starting to come down.

01:12:14The chute filling the drop.

01:12:16You hear that?

01:12:17Tink.

01:12:18It's all inside every time.

01:12:20Tink.

01:12:21Tink.

01:12:22Tink.

01:12:23Tink.

01:12:35Tink.

01:12:36Corey, is it feeding good up there?

01:12:39Because we're not getting much down here.

01:12:41But less than 10 minutes into the run.

01:12:44They're not getting much down, they said.

01:12:49Yeah, we got a consistent feed.

01:12:53Ian, I'm wondering if we're getting a lot of material that's hanging up in that boat.

01:13:00I think we're seized up.

01:13:02It could collapse that pipe.

01:13:04Stop feeding.

01:13:06Yeah, go ahead and stop feeding it.

01:13:14I'm going to shake this pipe, Fred.

01:13:15Is material coming out?

01:13:21Yeah, not much is coming out, Juan.

01:13:24Yeah, we're stuck halfway down, Fred.

01:13:32You know, you do the best you can and sometimes it doesn't work.

01:13:35If it doesn't work, you figure out what's going to work and you make alterations.

01:13:40But it's going to take a lot of time.

01:13:41And I'm just worried that we don't have enough time to do that.

01:13:45It's crucial that we get this fixed.

01:13:47If we don't get it fixed before Freddie and Juan have to go, I don't know if the season's going

01:13:53to be able to continue.

01:14:04I lost a bet to Juan over steak dinner.

01:14:07So, uh, being a smart ass.

01:14:09I've got a $15 sandwich cooker there.

01:14:15A little garlic pounded in with dirty hands.

01:14:19Well, we'll see how this thing goes.

01:14:20I hope Juan likes his steaks rare because I don't know how well this thing's going to cook.

01:14:26Always wash your dishes before you use them.

01:14:32That's going to work.

01:14:33Damn good.

01:14:36Juan, oh.

01:14:39Here's your steak dinner.

01:14:41Look at that.

01:14:43The little cooker cooked it good.

01:14:47It's good.

01:14:48It's perfect.

01:14:49Winning tastes good, Fred.

01:14:51Caveman style, 0-1-0.

01:14:52Yeah, I have no problem living like a caveman.

01:14:54I'm okay with it.

01:14:55Me either.

01:14:55That's really kind of you, sir.

01:15:08We have to have a run today because, uh, we're out of time.

01:15:12Only ten minutes into the second test, a clog in the pipeline forced a shutdown.

01:15:17It was a bit of a failure.

01:15:19We get it all put together, then we run it, and it was terrible.

01:15:23To get the second test back on track, they have to get the ore trapped in the sagging pipe moving.

01:15:30To move material, we're going to use gravity and vibration to try to get it down.

01:15:37To overcome the sag, Freddy and Juan will drop the lower end of the pipe to create a steeper run.

01:15:45And attach vibrators to the top and bottom of the chute to agitate material down and into the hammer mill.

01:15:57Hey, the pipe's coming on down as you're cranking, so keep on going.

01:16:01Juan gets to work on a mine rescue first.

01:16:05Pipe vibrators.

01:16:07This is going to be a mount for the vibrator.

01:16:09We want to make sure that all that energy goes into the pipe to be able to shake the material

01:16:13loose and get it down the pipe system.

01:16:16Just going to run a quick test on this and see which way it vibrates better.

01:16:20Usually on a vibrator, one way will actually push the material and the other way will actually draw the material

01:16:25towards the vibrators.

01:16:28Put material in it, Travis.

01:16:32Is it drawing that way?

01:16:34Slowly, huh?

01:16:36Feeds better that way.

01:16:37Okay.

01:16:40There he is.

01:16:41Perfect.

01:16:41Alright, now we know.

01:16:58Alright, good to go.

01:17:01We got both vibrators on, so.

01:17:03Let's give it a shot.

01:17:04I'll go down below and set a timer and let's run a two hour test.

01:17:07I got my radio.

01:17:08Sounds good, Freddy.

01:17:09Hey.

01:17:10Good job, buddy.

01:17:11Hopefully it works.

01:17:13It'll work, Juan.

01:17:18Alright, here we go.

01:17:20Wish us luck.

01:17:35Oh, Cory, Cory, Cory, this is so beautiful.

01:17:41Is it feeding down there?

01:17:43Oh yeah, we got a great feed.

01:17:44I like it.

01:17:46It's just dropping.

01:17:48Good feed.

01:17:50Thanks.

01:17:51Good job, buddy.

01:17:52Good job, dude.

01:17:53We got the material coming down the shoe, going into our pipe.

01:17:56With the two vibrators, it's running perfectly.

01:18:00This is my third pan off the end of the sluice.

01:18:03I haven't seen one speck of gold in it yet, which is a darn good sign.

01:18:06That means that sluice is working great.

01:18:08The spiral is actually working really well.

01:18:10Freddy's actually been panning it as we've been running.

01:18:13He hasn't seen one color in this yet.

01:18:15The sluice is catching the majority of the gold.

01:18:18Everything's working perfectly now.

01:18:20The plant is at 25, 30% capacity, so they can actually bring that up quite a bit.

01:18:25As they learn how to run the plant, they're going to be able to figure out where the limits are.

01:18:29And they can almost double that.

01:18:31You know, I put years of hard work into this place.

01:18:34It just seems like now everything is falling into place.

01:18:39Levi, that's two hours.

01:18:41All right, Cory, go ahead and stop feeding.

01:18:43I just hope everything's good down there and gold comes out the other end,

01:18:48because we're really, really counting on it.

01:18:56Let's see what it looks like, Juan.

01:18:58Let's take a look.

01:19:01Some gold right there, Juan.

01:19:02Yeah, there it is.

01:19:03There.

01:19:04There's a bunch right there, Fred.

01:19:05Is there?

01:19:06Yeah, a bunch right there.

01:19:07Oh.

01:19:08Yeah, that looks good.

01:19:09Right there in that one riffle is more than what we had in our first gold way.

01:19:13Well, that is a good feeling.

01:19:14Yep.

01:19:15We'll grab a hammer.

01:19:17We'll knock these out and get them cleaned up.

01:19:20I'm really hoping that the second gold way is what they need to see, because in order for them to

01:19:24get anywhere near their goal, they're going to get a lot more gold than what they had in that first

01:19:28way.

01:19:34Well, there's a lot more gold than last time.

01:19:36That's for sure.

01:19:36We got enough to weigh this time.

01:19:38That's for sure.

01:19:38That's weighable.

01:19:38You know, before we barely had a little streak in that pan.

01:19:41Now we actually have an amount that you can see.

01:19:43And the big difference was, you know, before you guys ran 150 pounds, maybe not even that.

01:19:48Mm-hmm.

01:19:49Just diving around probably 500 pounds.

01:19:50Yeah.

01:19:51Honestly, watching it run, you know, I think we can actually turn that up a little more.

01:19:54I think so, too.

01:19:55I honestly think that we can almost double that.

01:19:57Mm-hmm.

01:19:58For sure.

01:19:59Moment of truth.

01:20:00Let's do this.

01:20:01It's not a fortune, but it's gold.

01:20:03Exactly.

01:20:04Well, there's a weighable amount, 0.02.

01:20:08There's 0.05.

01:20:12There's 0.07.

01:20:16There's $160 worth of gold, guys.

01:20:21Probably 50 times the amount of gold you had in the first round.

01:20:24Mm-hmm.

01:20:25I mean, that's amazing.

01:20:26Freddie and Juan have increased the volume going through the plant by 233%.

01:20:33Over a six-day week, the gold weigh equates to 1.68 ounces, worth $3,864.

01:20:42Watching you guys feed it at the end there, I'm like, you know, I really think we can put

01:20:46more through that hammer mill.

01:20:470.07, you might be able to get that in an hour, right?

01:20:51Doubling volume run through the plant will see Levi and Corey exceeding their three-ounce-a-week

01:20:57target.

01:20:59Seeing this, it just gives me goosebumps, too, because I know how him and I are.

01:21:03We're just going to be sitting there, just sitting there and sitting there, feeding that chute.

01:21:07The more material they can run through the plant, the more gold they can recover.

01:21:10I'm really hopeful for these guys.

01:21:12I think this is just a start for them.

01:21:14We should have been gone this morning, but we had a little hiccup.

01:21:18Mm-hmm.

01:21:18You know, there's proof that your plant's running good.

01:21:21Perfect.

01:21:22It was worth the wait.

01:21:23It was.

01:21:23Before you guys go, I got something for you.

01:21:25What do you got?

01:21:25Remember that little tip you gave us about the ball mill?

01:21:28Mm-hmm.

01:21:28So we were able to get in it and pull some liners.

01:21:32And Corey and I owe you four ounces for the year.

01:21:36We have just probably roughly an ounce and a half to two ounces in the pan.

01:21:40Oh, no kidding.

01:21:41Yeah, we still have a lot more material up there to crush out of the ball mill.

01:21:45Awesome.

01:21:46So we'll be able to get you guys' payment to you a lot quicker.

01:21:48That'll work.

01:21:49That's awesome.

01:21:50Right on, guys.

01:21:51That tip.

01:21:52Very cool.

01:21:53With what's left in there, we might be able to even get closer to that 40 mark just by

01:21:56stuff they left behind for us.

01:21:58That's a good-looking pan there.

01:21:59Yeah, it definitely is.

01:22:01Load up and head down the mountain.

01:22:03Hold on.

01:22:03Let's go, Fred.

01:22:05You guys drive safe.

01:22:06Thanks a lot.

01:22:08It's been a challenging week, but it's done at work.

01:22:12We eliminated lots of their manual labor out of the whole equation.

01:22:16The sky's the limit for them.

01:22:20Freddie mentioned something about mining can break friendships.

01:22:23But with Cory, I think it's just making us even better friends, you know, because we

01:22:27have that drive and we need and want to make this work.

01:22:31Well, let's go get a proper steak dinner, buddy.

01:22:34You owe me one.

01:22:35I know.

01:22:35Let's go.

01:22:36I love the people we worked with.

01:22:38We had a good time.

01:22:39But this mountain's a pain in the ass.

01:22:46Three, two, one.

01:22:49Well, hey, Freddie and Juan.

01:22:51Everything's working really, really good here.

01:22:53We got it so nice that we even recruited a little bit of help in Levi's Juan.

01:22:57How'd that sluice look last night?

01:22:59The sluice last night was amazing.

01:23:02I got to show you this.

01:23:03Hold on.

01:23:03Every rifle is loaded with gold.

01:23:08This was just in three hours.

01:23:10We're able to do an ounce a day now.

01:23:14This is the gold we're getting.

01:23:16We were hoping for three ounces a week and now we're getting about six ounces a week.

01:23:21There's no way we could have doubled it without your help.

01:23:24Thanks to you, Freddie and Juan, our hard rock mining future is looking very bright.

01:23:28And next time you are in town, the snake's on us.

01:23:38Gold is addictive.

01:23:41We have a tremendous case of gold fever.

01:23:45Gold fever?

01:23:46Stone fever.

01:23:46It's contagious.

01:23:48Sometimes it makes you do crazy things.

01:23:50Why'd they call me the human forklift?

01:23:55Go up a little bit more.

01:23:57Oh my goodness.

01:24:00It's just so hard to think how far behind I am right now.

01:24:04Playtime is over, Fred.

01:24:05Got real.

01:24:08My recommendation is find some other ground.

01:24:11If you were sick, you'd go to a doctor.

01:24:13If you're gold mining, you're going to go to Freddie and Juan.

01:24:17This is a mine rescue first.

01:24:20It's all hands on deck now.

01:24:24Perfect.

01:24:27It's been one of our toughest weeks.

01:24:29That's for sure.

01:24:30We never had to do two full plant builds like this.

01:24:33We've resurrected a dinosaur.

01:24:35It's just unbelievable.

01:24:38Holy cow.

01:24:39There's another nugget.

01:24:41I'm in shock.

01:24:42Miracle in the pan.

01:24:43That's almost $6,000 a day.

01:24:45Oh my gosh, you guys.

01:24:48It's looking up.

01:24:49I'm feeling better and better every day.

01:24:51Wow.

01:24:52That is amazing.

01:24:53I'm proud of what we did here.

01:24:54Well, let's head out to the next one, huh?

01:24:57All right.

01:24:58I'm proud of the moon.

01:24:59I'm proud of.

01:25:00Here comes the moon.atten

01:25:00Oh

01:25:00auntie! són!

01:25:01You and

01:25:01and a half. You said,

Gold Rush: Freddy Dodges Mine Rescue - Season 5 - Episode 01: Pipe Dreams Eng Sub

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