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Gold Wars Downunder - Season 1 - Episode 04
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00:06There's a secret war going on in the outback town of Claremont.
00:14The gold here is so good and the value of gold now is so high.
00:19Look at that.
00:20Dog ate dog.
00:21The wars are off.
00:23Why are you entertaining this idiot?
00:25I was a bit pissed off when Donnie come in.
00:28How good's that?
00:30Three mining teams.
00:31We have to blow money into the mine so we have to make it work.
00:36Fighting it out on the one patch of land.
00:39This is just some of the stuff Donnie's been walking over.
00:43Guys, I'd be lucky if I don't walk over his big nose.
00:47This time.
00:48You ready, Kimbo?
00:49Learn how to drive this thing.
00:51Dan throws Kimberley into the deep end with mixed results.
00:55What am I doing?
00:57That area there, man.
00:58That's where I'm going.
00:59Dennis and Donnie hatch an audacious plan to peg new ground.
01:04If these guys kiss up me, I'll be pissed.
01:07And send Lee packing.
01:09Sick of diving in its own pockets to pay for everything.
01:13And Richie's bizarre Gold Coast gold dig.
01:17We scanned a lot of weird and wonderful things in our scanner, but never a gold nugget.
01:20To supercharge Team 1870's operation.
01:24The 24 grain ain't going to cover.
01:25That's my absolute last and final offer.
01:48At 1870, Dan and wife Kira are prepping their dryblower for a day of processing work.
01:55Put these on, we can fire it up.
01:57Yeah.
01:58So she's probably the best we've ever worked together.
02:01The day's still young.
02:04The dryblower's already delivered four ounces of gold.
02:08Conveyors running through.
02:11So we should be kicking ass today.
02:13Let's just get this up and running.
02:16Get some dirt through it.
02:17And at the end of the day, let's see the gold coming out.
02:20Dan now needs to bring the wash plant online.
02:23And then get the two machines working together in tandem.
02:27Their $500,000 season target depends on it.
02:32We're already weeks behind where we need to be.
02:36So you girls are now going to have to step up.
02:40But upscaling a mine costs money.
02:43And they now need a new generator.
02:47Cue Richie.
02:48So Richie's gone back to the Gold Coast to go sell some gold.
02:51We need a generator.
02:53We need one for the wash plant.
02:55Richie's on the hunt for $30,000 cash.
02:58He's hoping one of his rich Gold Coast mates
03:01will step up and buy an 1870 nugget off him.
03:05Richie's gone to sell some gold so we can keep going,
03:08buy some more generators, keep it going.
03:11Yeah.
03:11So Kira and I are going to be on the tools today.
03:14I'm going to give yourself and Kimberley a crash course
03:17on how to use a loader.
03:20That way Brad and myself can get back up
03:22and keep continuing off the wash plant.
03:24It's been the slowest start to the season.
03:27But seeing that gold come in, I think we're on the right track.
03:30We can still do this as long as there's no more breakdowns.
03:33So now that we've got all the ground loosened up over here
03:36for the loader to pick up,
03:37you girls are just going to dump the dirt up into the bin.
03:41All the gold will get caught up in these riffles here.
03:44All the loader material will come off into the conveyor
03:48and go straight into our tailings.
03:49So how much gold do you think Kira and I are going to get today
03:52running this, all this?
03:53Look, I'll not see close to an ounce at the end of today.
03:56I'll do two.
03:58Dan and Richie sacked all their contractors.
04:021870 is now a full-on family affair.
04:06So I've been thrown out here.
04:07Clearly my nails weren't built for mining.
04:10I don't know how this is going to go.
04:12Only time will tell if Dan's bunch of mining misfits
04:15can actually do the job and turn a profit.
04:19You ready, Kibbo?
04:21I've learned how to drive this thing.
04:25So there is a seatbelt as well.
04:27What do you think I'm going to do? Burnouts?
04:29It's going to be a lot of new things on my resume.
04:32OK.
04:33Don't run me over.
04:35Is this scary?
04:37I think the girls have got potential.
04:40Oh, my God.
04:41It's a race.
04:42Go, go, go.
04:43No?
04:46Oh, I've got to put it in drive.
04:48There we go.
04:50There we go.
04:52Oh.
04:53OK.
04:54At the end of the day, something is better than nothing.
04:59OK.
04:59Oh, it's OK.
05:01Lower the whole bucket down.
05:05Jesus.
05:05Keep it going.
05:07OK, yep.
05:08Now drive forward.
05:09Oh, my gosh.
05:10It's a little bit different.
05:11I'm going to, um, driving my car at home.
05:15Here we go.
05:18Here we go.
05:18Now start to curl the bucket.
05:19So control towards you.
05:22Here we go.
05:25Here we go.
05:27Perfect.
05:51That's pretty good for a person who's never operated a machine in her life, other than a Mercedes-Benz.
05:57Awesome.
05:59I'll get it.
06:00I'll get it.
06:00I'll get it.
06:01I'll get it.
06:01I'll get it.
06:04The dry blower uses air and vibration to separate the gold from the dirt.
06:09Kimberley needs to carefully feed the hopper bin without overloading the riffle trays underneath or the whole thing will jam
06:16up and grind to a halt.
06:21OK, that's it.
06:23There's a lot into it to get it running right.
06:27The riffle trays, if they're not on the right angle, you lose gold.
06:30The feed rate, if it's not right, you lose gold.
06:33So we're just trying to keep an eye on the dirt levels, OK?
06:38Oh, that was enough.
06:41Well, I'm just trying to get Kira to keep an eye on how much dirt's going through to make sure
06:45that the hopper bins aren't getting over full.
06:48Dan needs Kira and Kimberley to operate independently without his supervision.
06:53Oh, it's on.
06:54It's off.
06:56He needs to get back to assembling the washboard.
06:58I'll let you take the reins.
07:00You give her a full guide now on how to get the dirt and dump it.
07:04Good luck, guys.
07:07I'm fairly confident these girls can figure the machines out.
07:10I'm going to shoot off and get my day underway.
07:22At Scratchy Moo, Damo and Lee are making progress mining the megabit.
07:27This big pile here is the pile of spoil, which is everything that's come out of the top six metres.
07:35As much as you want to get all the gold out with the detector, obviously, when you're moving so much
07:41ground, peel up nuggets in the slate.
07:44We spread it out, re-detect it.
07:46You get a lot more gold out of that.
07:49Mine owners Damo and Matt have quietly been raking in the gold.
07:54They're at $275,000 for the season.
07:58I think we'll get 100 ounces pretty easy.
08:00I don't want to say pretty easy.
08:02It's bloody hard work.
08:04But I don't see anything stopping us from getting there based on our trajectory now.
08:09Show us what you're made of.
08:11And then there's Lee hovering in the wings with big promises to buy some land off them.
08:17So working with the boys here and seeing the gold, there's good volumes of gold.
08:22I'm confident enough to want to do a deal.
08:25You see, we don't even have to have our picks with us in this stuff.
08:27This is where Scratchy truly comes to life, because I can just scratch my heart's content like a chicken.
08:34There we go.
08:36But Lee's in the middle of a divorce.
08:39Getting hold of funds to pay for the land is proving more difficult than he imagined.
08:44So for me to get this coin together, I need to settle with the ex, get that money through,
08:52free my cash-ups to pay these boys, get it done.
08:56Gold!
08:58Oh, yeah, how a good one.
08:59It's pretty robust.
09:00See, it's got some chunk to it.
09:02So that'd be, it's probably a 0.4 there.
09:05And there'll be plenty, there'll be, you can do that all afternoon on this.
09:18That one's scratched me.
09:20Got a bit of a wobble there, look.
09:21At Swiss Diggings, Lee's ex-business partner, Donnie, and his new boss, Dennis, are on fire.
09:28They're well over a third of the way towards their seasoned target.
09:33We've got a good colour here.
09:35Yeah, I reckon she's going to drop off, drop off through here.
09:38It was a master stroke by Dennis to take on Donnie at a time when no one wanted anything to
09:45do with him.
09:46Me and Donnie have been working all right.
09:47We've been going well together.
09:49Donnie's provided enough evidence that he can do what he can do.
09:53Donnie's the secret sauce Dennis has been waiting for to take his operation to the next level.
09:59Dennis needs to keep him on side.
10:02I pulled up a GRRZ here.
10:03I'm having to look around at different grounds to see where we can actually pop a new lease in for
10:08us.
10:09Serious?
10:09Yeah.
10:10Barely serious.
10:14Well, this is serious.
10:15Thanks.
10:17I honestly think he needs to be on his own lease, so I've thrown the option out there to peg
10:22a lease together.
10:24With a bit of luck, he'll end up owning it.
10:27And that's the ultimate goal.
10:30Dennis giving me a chance has really given me the go ahead and the set up for myself.
10:34That's what I've always wanted.
10:36What do you reckon is good ground?
10:38I know there's good ground behind 1870 there, so we've got good gold coming through this valley system running into
10:451870 there.
10:47Right through.
10:48Yeah, and it's good, rich ground.
10:50And who owns this EPM around Scratchy Moot?
10:54That's Matt and Damage.
10:55That is Matt and Damage.
10:56That area there, man, that's where I'll be going.
10:58The land they're looking to peg is the exact same parcel of land that Lee, Donnie's old business partner, is
11:06trying to buy.
11:08Dennis' audacious plan will put Donnie and Lee on a direct collision course with each other.
11:13There's not much ground left out there, mate, so this is an opportunity, I think, that we probably need to
11:17start capitalising on.
11:27I'm here on the Gold Coast, so I can sell one of these nuggets we've got.
11:31Richie's back in his hometown, hoping to sell a showpiece nugget to one of his cashed-up socialite mates.
11:39I've got a mate who's a doctor here on the coast.
11:42He owns one of the biggest radiology companies, blow up the latest and greatest bells and whistles, who has expressed
11:48interest in buying some gold.
11:50And if he does, then I can afford to buy this generator I'm eyeing off.
11:56Selling gold before the season's end was never meant to be part of the plan.
12:02But cost blowouts and machine breakdowns have left Richie out of pocket.
12:07The upsetting part for me is he's selling one of the biggest nuggets I've ever found.
12:11When I dug that nugget out of the ground, it was just a special moment.
12:17They're hard to come by that size.
12:19Still one of the biggest nuggets I've ever found, so I'm hoping he gets what I've told him to get.
12:24Dan's nugget weighs 144 grams, just under 5 ounces.
12:30At today's gold price, that's around $28,000.
12:34But nuggets this size are extremely rare and can command a premium.
12:39Dan has instructed Richie not to sell the nugget for anything less than $30,000.
12:45I'm sick of diving into my own pockets to pay for everything.
12:49Now, the mind can start paying for itself.
12:54Knock, knock.
12:55Come on in.
12:56Buddy.
12:57How are you, mate?
12:57How are you going?
12:58Good.
12:59I brought you a present.
13:02Ka-ching.
13:03Holy cow.
13:05That is quite a nugget.
13:07It's bloody heavy, isn't it?
13:08That's the biggest one we've found so far.
13:10Well, since I've taken over the mine, anyway.
13:12It's got a bit of weight to it.
13:13It has.
13:16144.35.
13:18Wow.
13:18So how pure is this rock?
13:20Well, Claremont has got literally one of Australia's most pure quality nuggets.
13:27At 97 to 99% pure gold.
13:30The average in Australia is between 92 to 98, so Claremont gold's one of my sought-after
13:35gold, especially the nuggets.
13:37They're super rare.
13:38It's clear that Gus really wants this nugget.
13:40I've just got to get him across the line.
13:42I need to get some cash flow going so I can buy this generator.
13:49How are you going, mate?
13:51Yeah, good.
13:52Pretty close?
13:52Yeah, I'm just double-checking on the measurements.
13:56Back at 1870, Dan and son Brayden are hard at it trying to assemble the new wash plant.
14:03So now the girls are up and running with the dry blower.
14:05That frees me up.
14:07I can be up here with Brayden putting together some machinery.
14:11So this is going to be one of our feed conveyors.
14:15We've just assembled it.
14:16So now we just want to make sure it doesn't track to one side.
14:20Because if it does do that and it starts hitting the framework, well, we're going to destroy
14:25a belt fairly quick.
14:26And at this point in time, I don't want any more delays.
14:31But Dan's decision to leave Kira and Kimberley unsupervised might not have been a wise one.
14:37All right, start tilting it back.
14:41No, not going back.
14:43You've got to tilt the...
14:44Oh, yeah.
14:46Oh, my God.
14:47Okay.
14:49Oh, my God.
14:52What am I doing?
14:56That wasn't meant to happen.
14:58Definitely the front end loader doesn't compare to driving a Mercedes.
15:02A little bit bumpy.
15:04A little rough.
15:08It's definitely not a Mercedes.
15:15I don't judge a book by cover, but I genuinely did not think that that girl was going to
15:20do any good.
15:21Well, you all right?
15:26I love that it is.
15:27But from the outset, I didn't think she was going to do well.
15:30Low and steady wins the race.
15:37She got in there, and I was very, very impressed.
15:42Don't tell her I said that, though.
15:44Yeah.
15:46Okay.
15:50What?
15:53What Team 1870 lacks in experience, they more than make up for in have-a-go, true grit.
16:02I don't like getting too close to the scene.
16:06Is that good?
16:08Everyone here has a lot to lose if they don't get it right.
16:12We have put everything on the line.
16:15So much work, so much effort.
16:17Richie's pumped in so much money.
16:20But we're finally there.
16:22Like, we can actually give it a crack.
16:25Okay, that's it.
16:28Loading the driveway is a delicate operation.
16:32I think I'm getting the hang of this now.
16:34Kimber is a fast learner.
16:37Question is, does she know when to stop?
16:41Stop, stop, stop.
16:44Stop.
16:47Stop, stop.
16:49You're ready to go.
16:52What's up?
16:53What's happened?
16:55Something's happened.
16:57Drive well.
16:58Yeah, it's like the pot rivet or something there.
17:02That's not good.
17:03So we're at a little standstill, so this gets fixed, I guess.
17:14The town of Claremont.
17:18And Donnie's stocking up on supplies for Swiss diggings.
17:23Hey, Dennis, what's going on?
17:26Mate, I've had to bail.
17:28You've had to bail?
17:30Yeah, mate, yeah, yeah.
17:31I've had to go back to the coast.
17:34Oh, serious?
17:36Yeah, this container's arrived.
17:37It's excavated in it.
17:39So I've had to come home to get that sorted out, mate.
17:42So I've had to bail.
17:45I had an excavator that I designed and had built in China.
17:48Freight company told me it was coming in.
17:50And so I had a 48-hour window to get it out of the box.
17:54The timing was just the worst that could ever possibly happen.
17:58Interestingly enough, I've had an email from Damien over at Scratchy.
18:02Yeah.
18:03Apparently, Leach McGrubb is looking at the same ground that we were sort of thinking about pegging out.
18:09Leach McGrubb.
18:11From that email, what he's saying is, Leach McGrubb is there, mate, to make the deal.
18:16It's just like a bad deja vu with that bloke, fair dickle.
18:22I just can't seem to get away from this bloke.
18:26Whatever Donnie's feelings towards his old business partner are,
18:30Lee was the first one in to make an offer.
18:34But he's struggling to get hold of enough cash to ink a deal.
18:38And that could give Dennis and Donnie the opening they need.
18:42I'd rather do this myself, but I don't think we've actually got any other option, mate.
18:46I'm going to need you to hop foot over there, over to Scratchy's.
18:49Today? This morning?
18:51Yeah, this morning, mate.
18:51I don't think we've got any time to waste.
18:53We've only chance of putting the cat amongst the pigeons with the grub right now.
18:59Donnie, he is not the person that I would normally send in to do that,
19:03especially with his baggage with Lee.
19:05But we had no other choice.
19:08You've got to be cool.
19:09Become a collective, mate.
19:10And, you know, me, I'm always cool, calm and click.
19:13I don't have an awful lot of time.
19:15They're probably getting offers at 100 to 1.
19:19So I'm coming after him.
19:22So what do you want me to talk to Damo and Matty about?
19:25How do you want me to approach this?
19:28So Matt and Damo, they want 100% up front.
19:30And that's before the lease even goes through.
19:33It just doesn't make good business sense to me.
19:35I'd rather do 50% up front than 50% on completion or sign up for the lease.
19:43Yeah, right.
19:45Mining leases can take up to three years to get approved by the mines department.
19:49And there's no guarantees they will even go through.
19:53Paying 100% up front puts the financial risk squarely on the buyer.
20:00And I think probably because old McGrub's in there, he's, uh, they could probably start playing hardball with us as
20:06well.
20:07So let's, uh, go and see what they've got, the terms, and we go from there, right?
20:12I ain't going out there, seeing that.
20:15Well, look, at the end of the day, I think you've got to be, you've got to put your business
20:19head on your shoulders, mate.
20:21And, uh, you've got to do what you've got to do.
20:24Talking business is not my forte.
20:26All I can really do is go out there and tell them that we want it and we're interested.
20:30And I would suggest to Lee, he, he really stay out of my way.
20:40Took you long enough.
20:42Been having a beer.
20:44I wish.
20:45At 1870, production has stalled.
20:48One of the ripple trays on the dry blower has come loose.
20:52It's not one thing, it's another, eh?
20:54It's always something.
20:55The machine's vibration has caused a rivet to pop and break.
21:00You can see how violent the, the vibrator on this is working, you know, and anything that moves is always
21:06going to wear.
21:08Something so basic, a five-cent pop rivet snapped.
21:12Stop, stop, ration.
21:14I'm hoping this is the last time this breaks.
21:16I'm, I've just got too much to do, you know.
21:19One step forward, three steps back.
21:22So you girls are right to go again, eh?
21:24Yep.
21:25Good.
21:25It's got to do.
21:26And that's been kicking our ass since the beginning of the season.
21:34On the Gold Coast, Richie's idea to sell some gold to an old mate, who happens to be a doctor,
21:41has taken a bizarre twist.
21:43We scanned a lot of weird and wonderful things in our scanner, but never a gold nugget.
21:47So, Gus has got the technology for me to prove to him how pure this nugget is, so why not?
21:55So basically just taking some pictures of that nugget, and there you go.
22:00Look at that.
22:02Yeah.
22:03There's method to Gus's madness.
22:05The CT scan has put a spotlight on the nugget's impurities, and that plays into his hands.
22:12What are these little spots here?
22:14I admit, they look like little bits of quartz, but there's one, two, three, four little bits of quartz, and
22:20they'll be not even the size of a match head.
22:23Yeah, that's typical Gus.
22:25He's trying to get a good deal, but he's not going to get mates' rates.
22:28So it's not exactly pure if there's bits of quartz in there.
22:32Yeah, I can already tell where this is heading.
22:34That'd be at least 97, 98% pure.
22:36You're a doctor that's trying to stitch me up.
22:38We'll disagree on 96 and move on.
22:48Donnie is heading to Scratchy Moo to begin negotiations with Matt and Damo for their parcel of land.
22:56Oh, I'm going to hate doing this.
22:58This is Dennis' job, man.
23:00The last thing I want to do is come anywhere near this leech of a person.
23:07The land Dennis and Donnie want is the same land Lee wants to buy.
23:13Lee thinks he has the deal in the bag, but he doesn't have the cash.
23:18Try and keep me cool here today.
23:19I don't want nothing to do.
23:20If he comes up talking to me, I'm just going to tell him to get.
23:23I don't need to be talking to him.
23:24Just politely tell him to please stay out of my business and let me talk to the big boys.
23:31Donnie needs to keep a cool head.
23:34The last time he came face to face with Lee is a lesson in what not to do.
23:40You've ripped me off since day dot.
23:41It was meant to be a partnership.
23:43What did I ever get out of it?
23:44You got free labour for two years.
23:47That's what you got.
23:48The gold.
23:48What gold?
23:49With the gold we paid for.
23:50You never paid one cent.
23:55Essentially, we're pegging this lease for me.
23:58This is my future.
24:00So it's pretty important for me to get the ground.
24:04If I can get onto my own lease and now I can get 100% of the gold, then all
24:09of a sudden
24:09I can start living and breathing and, you know, my kids will benefit.
24:16Who's this?
24:17It's like Mr. Password.
24:19That's your mate.
24:20I can't wait.
24:21This will be interesting.
24:24Do you need to go as nothing?
24:31Hey, mate, how are you?
24:32Good.
24:33Good, bud.
24:34Hey, Damo, hello, yeah, that's been a while, mate.
24:36Yeah, absolutely.
24:38What brings you around?
24:41Dennis didn't contact you?
24:43Yeah, I emailed him and he said he was interested in having a look at some ground.
24:49Yeah, maybe I'll be able to go then.
24:51Talking about the lease, I'll get out of the road.
24:53Yeah, he said you were sniffing around.
24:55Wish you the best of luck.
24:57I was a bit pissed off when Donnie come in, actually.
25:00These guys must know I'm chasing this.
25:02The time I left, good luck with it.
25:06If these guys come in and gazump me, I'll be pissed.
25:09In the Claremont gold fields, cash is king.
25:13That was a tad awkward.
25:14The question is, does Donnie have the negotiation skills required to get Matt and Damo to agree to Dennis' terms?
25:23Boy, boy, you're entertaining this idiot.
25:31See if I remember how to drive this thing.
25:34Airbrake.
25:36Okay.
25:38At 1870, the dry blower is fixed and it's all systems go.
25:43Might make the bulb liner out of...
25:45Oh, cool.
25:47I'm like the first thing in it here.
25:49Got the air conditioning, got the pan.
25:51Cut that there.
25:52I got to feed the spotter and make sure it was running.
25:59You look at the difference in this way in the night.
26:01Oh, yeah?
26:03What do you mean?
26:06I'm standing there, copping it, covered in filth-eating dirt.
26:13And, you know, Kimberley's worked hard too in her air conditioning cab.
26:20I'll need a probe by the end of the day at this.
26:23Mastering the loader is only half the challenge.
26:27The dry blower's feed rate also needs careful supervision.
26:34Dan, can you see the hoppers from up here?
26:37I can see that.
26:38He's been high or low.
26:39Yep.
26:40Running with the machinery and stuff.
26:42It's really hard because Dan's really the only person that's hands-on experience.
26:50Oh, come on.
26:52Oh, that was hot.
26:58Okay, stop, stop, stop.
27:00Stop.
27:00Oh.
27:06Kimberley has overloaded the hopper and the ripple trays are now completely blocked up.
27:13Bringing the operation to a standstill once again.
27:17It's a disaster.
27:19Can you get down here, please?
27:20It's an emergency.
27:21Dan's hands-off approach is not working.
27:25What's going on, Kira?
27:26So all our tray things are completely filled up.
27:29We've just had to completely stop.
27:31I don't even know what's going on.
27:33Let's watch your bike down here now.
27:34Not yet.
27:41All right, buddy.
27:42Time to get down to it.
27:43Let's talk business.
27:44Let's talk turkey.
27:45On the Gold Coast, Richie's trying to sell a giant nugget to his rich doctor mate Gus for $30,000.
27:53All right.
27:5530 grand.
27:59You do drive a hard bargain.
28:00It's not a hard bargain.
28:02The price of gold has doubled in the last two years.
28:05That there is a great investment.
28:08I think based on everything we've seen and market value, I think $24,000 is reasonable for that.
28:16The $24,000 ain't going to cut it.
28:18That's nature's retirement plan right there.
28:21Yeah.
28:23Look, it is a pretty extraordinary investment.
28:25I'm definitely interested.
28:27I haven't got an unlimited budget, though, and I know there's some impurities in it.
28:32I can do $27,000.
28:34That's the best I can earn.
28:36That's my absolute last and final offer.
28:39In the day, I could have dicked around for a couple of weeks and found another buyer and all that
28:43type of stuff, but I need the money then.
28:45My time's more valuable to worry about $2,500,000.
28:48There's going to be people up there that's pissed off at me settling for $27,000.
28:53But I'm going to agree to that, all right?
28:56$27,000.
28:57Deal.
28:58I understand Dan would be pissed off that I accepted less than $30,000 for the nugget, but this is
29:02a business decision.
29:04I wanted to free up some cash so I didn't have to put my hand in my own pocket.
29:07It's done.
29:11So, Dennis gives me a ring this morning.
29:13He says that I had to get out here pronto because Lee McGrath was here sniffing around the land that
29:19we're looking at.
29:20Yeah, he's been here looking.
29:21At Scratchy Moo, Donnie is doing his best to keep his cool and snatch the parcel of land Matt and
29:28Damo are willing to sell from right under Lee's nose.
29:32I just wanted to come out and let you know we are dead set keen on the land.
29:36Yeah, well, it's $1,500 bucks a hectare.
29:38It's $1,500 bucks a hectare.
29:40Yeah.
29:41I don't think he's worried about the price.
29:43It's just more the terms.
29:45He wants to do 50% up front and 50%.
29:51On approval.
29:53Yeah, we're not super keen on that.
29:56Right.
29:57I mean, that just puts it back on our desk, really, to deal with any of the dramas.
30:03It's like, you could take six months or you could take five years to get that lease through.
30:08Dennis, he just has got this bandage bonnet about half and half.
30:14We don't want to be obligated to the process.
30:17Sitting there five years waiting for the rest of your money.
30:20Like, it's just...
30:21I mean, that wouldn't happen with us, but...
30:23That's what everyone says, you know.
30:25We have simultaneous approaches for that same piece of ground.
30:28So, put your money on the table, hit your lease.
30:32That's our terms.
30:35So, I guess I'll just go back and tell Dennis that you guys aren't happy with the 50-50.
30:41I guess it's just up to Dennis.
30:42You've got to agree with the 100% and then he might be in front of Lee because he's got
30:48to chase his coin, so...
30:50If down, he can come up with the money.
30:53Dennis, he's probably got a good chance at grabbing it.
30:55I would think if he can pay up front.
30:57All spin, best rest, in a sense, play.
31:00That's useless.
31:02Look, at the end of the day, I don't really mind who gets it.
31:05It never comes through on the terms that we're requesting.
31:07It comes out trumps.
31:14What do you reckon?
31:16I can't get a break.
31:18Not today.
31:20Team 1870's new dry blower is clogged up and Dan's running out of patience.
31:28See this lever here?
31:30Yeah.
31:31This is what adjusts our flow.
31:33OK.
31:33So, if you watch that gap there, when I lift this lever up, see how it closes?
31:37Oh.
31:39So, you just didn't touch the lever?
31:42No.
31:43It's probably just the vibration doing it, so I'll have to make that a bit tighter.
31:47The vibration on the screen vibrates the whole machine.
31:51It's caused the arm that actually helps slow up the feed rate on each hopper to come loose
31:57and slip down.
31:58So, everything's just opened up, allowed full dirt to go straight through to over the riffle
32:04trays.
32:06Whatever gold has been captured in the riffle trays is now mixed up with the waste dirt.
32:11It's one setback after another.
32:15So, you girls have been at this for, like, four and a half hours now?
32:18Yeah.
32:19And we've just lost any gold we would have caught.
32:26So, all those trays, we've had to basically pour out the bulk of the dirt back into the
32:32pole and reprocess it.
32:33All my hard work going down the drain.
32:36We'll unhook this tray.
32:37We're going to pour this dirt out.
32:39Four hours of busting our guts.
32:41Then all of a sudden, you know, we get told that, oh yeah, by the way, that was for absolutely
32:46nothing.
32:48Okay.
32:50Kind of a little bit.
32:52It's a big hit to Dan's confidence and Richie's bottom line.
32:58Dan can't afford any more cost blowouts, poor management comms or machinery fails.
33:04No one's fault.
33:05It's just a pain in the arse.
33:10The team is getting close to breaking point.
33:14That's all we've come across so far is setback after setback after setback.
33:18It's just one thing after another after another.
33:28At Scratchy Moo, Lee's desperate to find out how the talks with Donnie have gone.
33:35I'm just interested in sitting with Donnie.
33:37Deficit ruptured.
33:39I'm so close to getting all my financial s*** sorted.
33:45What was he doing here?
33:47No love lost between you two, huh?
33:49I don't want to get pipped at the 11th hour.
33:52So what's the go?
33:53What's the go in here?
33:54They sniffing?
33:55Well, they're sniffing at the same piece of parcel that you want.
34:00How am I looking?
34:01Am I still looking around or what?
34:02We're going up with a coin.
34:03Get your finance organised.
34:05Because this is how it's going to work.
34:07But if he comes through and says he'll pay it all, they're going to get it.
34:10Yeah, when?
34:10When is he talking?
34:12We can make the call any time.
34:14Yeah, well.
34:15He's not f***ing around with finance.
34:17We can't be any clearer than that.
34:20Righto.
34:20It's the game.
34:21It's the game.
34:23The coin's on the table.
34:24I reckon they'll lean towards me.
34:27But business is business.
34:28Like, they want to do the deal.
34:30They want the cash.
34:31I know where I stand.
34:32I know I've got to get my arse in again and get the coin.
34:35So, pressure's on to get my cash, bring my cash up, and get in and get the deal done.
34:40Well, then make some phone calls, but not.
34:42All right.
34:43Then do that.
34:49Hey, mate, how are you?
34:50Good, bud.
34:51How are you?
34:51Oh, yeah, well, yeah, it's been an interesting morning.
34:56At Swiss Diggings, Donnie's updating Dennis on his negotiations with Matt and Damo.
35:03I went out to Matt and Damo.
35:06Lee McGrath's here.
35:07He hot-footed it.
35:09As soon as he sees me turn up, he's like, oh, I'm out of here.
35:12So, and then, yeah, I had a good yum.
35:16Look, they're pretty stuck on the 50-50.
35:22Yeah, righto, righto.
35:23I really wanted to get this deal wrapped up.
35:26If we can't get this deal across the line, it's going to be somebody else that's going to get it.
35:29Is it the same land that Lee's?
35:32Yeah, 100%.
35:33Righto.
35:34Yeah.
35:34So, the old jeep she's hanging around, eh?
35:36Yeah, yeah.
35:37And even they said to me that, you know, that Lee was struggling to find the finance to do it.
35:43Oh, he's struggling to find finance.
35:45Well, that's what Damo and Matty told me.
35:49Here, in Queensland, the way that we peg, it's all about money these days.
35:52It's whoever's got the money in the bank to actually make it happen.
35:55There's one thing I've got.
35:56I've got no issues with paying.
35:58Probably the best thing to do is just, I've got this excavated around the box and she's ready to roll.
36:03So, I'll hightail it up tomorrow and, yeah, we'll get to meet with Matty.
36:08Yeah, cool.
36:09Cool.
36:09I'll have a good.
36:10Well, hopefully, you can come up with an agreement and we can get that land and kick that clean out
36:16of the park.
36:22Let's try again.
36:23How the hell did I get to watch this beer?
36:26At 1870, Kira and Kimberley are into their second hour of reprocessing all the dirt from the morning spill.
36:35Oh, it's a long process.
36:37Long process.
36:37The novelty of gold mining is wearing a bit thin.
36:43Well, my friend was looking out and having nice hot towels with a nice bun somewhere on the water on
36:48a gold place.
36:49And I am in a proper desert.
36:52Hungry.
36:53I don't want to work under these conditions.
36:56I need a margarita.
36:59It's just monotonous.
37:01I'd rather move on to something where it's a bit cleaner.
37:05Hey, Dan.
37:06I'm absolutely done.
37:09This dry blower does not blow.
37:11It sucks.
37:13But there is some good news.
37:17Richie's back from the gold house with his new generator.
37:21Buddy, I come bearing gifts.
37:24Nice.
37:24The latest and greatest.
37:26Nice.
37:27But this is what we spent all our money on from the sale of the gold nugget, mate.
37:31I know Dan might be pissed off that I didn't get the $30,000 for that nugget.
37:35The most important thing we can be doing right now is getting the whole plant up and running.
37:38So worrying about chasing coulda, shoulda, woulda dollars for a nugget.
37:44I haven't got time for that.
37:46Did you draft the nugget, sir?
37:48Yeah.
37:48She's gone.
37:49It hurt, but it's gone.
37:51What do you mean it hurt?
37:52What did you get?
37:5627.
37:5827?
38:00I thought we sort of agreed on 30.
38:03When I dug that out of the ground, that was a special moment for me.
38:09That's a cool, solid slug of a nugget.
38:12Instead of getting $30,000 for the nugget, you got 27.
38:17That was upsetting.
38:18It was worth every bit of 30.
38:20Mate, at the end of the day, we just needed the cash.
38:23Team 1870 is showing the early signs of imploding.
38:27The girls want to go home.
38:30And Dan and Richie are no longer seeing eye to eye.
38:34You want to get the max for your goal.
38:36He's a businessman.
38:37That's what he should be doing.
38:4127 grand.
38:44At Scratchy Moo, Matt and Damo are in a great place.
38:48Any time we've got rattles in the bottle, it's a good day.
38:52The gold is coming in on volume and with consistency.
38:57Yeah, well, I'm not too sure about Lee and Donnie's side show they've got going on.
39:05There's going to be a bit of boring about the pegging of the same spot.
39:10Plus, they've got Lee and Donnie at each other's throats in the race to secure their parcel of land.
39:18Where's Lee at the moment?
39:20I don't know where Lee is.
39:22Lee's off sorting out his finances somewhere.
39:25Dennis has got the cash.
39:27Dennis has cashed up, which, honestly, puts more pressure on Lee if I want to do anything.
39:33So Dennis has got the cash ready.
39:35I have it.
39:36Money talks.
39:37It just talks.
39:38And these guys want the cash.
39:39Unless you've got the cash, all of it up front, they're not going to do a deal.
39:44G'day, mate.
39:44How you going?
39:45Lee's on the phone to his accountant to see what he can do about freeing up some funds.
39:51I've had another crew come in looking at this land over here.
39:54His future in Claremont depends on it.
39:57My old partner's hooked up with him.
39:59Yeah, he's just turned up here now, hence I've found out what's going on.
40:04So what we've got is we've got a bit of time pressure now.
40:06So if Dennis comes in over the top of me, there's a chance that he'll snabble this up here.
40:12I've just got to settle me and get the cash on the table.
40:16It really comes down to the settlement, man.
40:18Well, the settlement's not going to cement that contract.
40:21Seriously, it is this close.
40:23My money is this close, but it could drop any minute.
40:27So it's due to settle on Friday.
40:30Yeah, that's awesome.
40:31Today's Tuesday.
40:32If Dennis rings now and says he's the cash, puts the cash in the bank, it's going to be a
40:37race.
40:44There it is there.
40:44That's a problem.
40:45Finally, we've got a grammar out of this cut.
40:49Lee will need to hustle if he wants to share in some of Scratchy Moo's success.
40:55The low-key duo are up to $305,000 for the season.
41:00Yeah, well, look, we've got a fair bit of cut to go here.
41:02This could come alive.
41:03You get an inverted tone and we're on.
41:06The gold ground up for sale would be a valuable get for Dennis and Donnie,
41:11who still have a ways to go to hit their half-a-million-dollar season target.
41:18That's a wine o'clock.
41:20I still haven't broken a nail, so...
41:22But while Scratchy Moo and Swiss diggings are in the money,
41:27Team 1870 needs to pan out the concentrates from the riffle trays
41:31to see just how much gold they've banked for the day.
41:35There we go.
41:36Let's go wash this up and see how much gold we've got.
41:39Feel the gold, didn't there?
41:42So much gold.
41:43So much gold.
41:44A few teething issues, it's running.
41:47Only the gold's going to tell what's in those riffle trays at the end of the day.
41:51But these teething problems are the least of Dan's worries.
41:56Richie's not impressed with Dan's lack of progress with the wash plant assembly.
42:01How come the trombone's not down?
42:04Well, I had the girls on the dry blower all day, and we had nothing but issues.
42:08One issue after another after another.
42:13I was under the understanding that a lot more progress had happened.
42:16Now, I know you're working your ass off, but...
42:19Yeah, look, obviously, I can only fly in and out so often.
42:24Like, literally, I come up here thinking we're at a particular stage of where we have to be,
42:28and we won't.
42:29That really pissed me off.
42:31You know, I've been awake since, like, four every morning, going to bed late.
42:35We're working under the lights.
42:37I mean, you can try to put my knees together.
42:39They're an absolute pain in the arse.
42:41Everything come in pieces, man.
42:42It all takes time.
42:44I've been bus-masked seven days a week.
42:47I haven't had a chance to go home.
42:49I'm here doing what I'm doing.
42:54That was a big shot at me.
42:58Next time...
42:59I need to concentrate.
43:01Lee's 11th-hour bid to snatch the gold-rich land off Matt and Damo...
43:06The lemon excavator!
43:09Don't get bogged now, will you?
43:11Don't do a bit of a swap, do you?
43:13...and destroy Donnie and Dennis' counteroffer.
43:16I really don't want to do the 100% up front.
43:20I'm sort of relying on trying to get something going with them.
43:23Ooh!
43:26Kimberley!
43:28Kimberley's shock goal find...
43:30There you go.
43:31My first little nugget.
43:33...brings new hope for Team 18-7.
43:36That is awesome.
43:37That's made my day.
43:41It's a poacher.
43:42We've got blokes that are in the pit.
43:45And Donnie and Dennis...
43:46go after a poacher.
43:48Caught on camera...
43:49...stealing their gold.
43:51Here we go.
43:51Here we go.
43:51Oh, look at this thing!
43:53Look at that!
43:54That's all right.
43:55Jump out, jump out!
43:57Come on, Arpo!
43:58You
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