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Gold Wars Downunder - Season 1 - Episode 07
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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.
00:19Dog ate dog. The 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?
00:29Three mining teams.
00:31We haven't put a lot of money into the mine, so we have to make it work.
00:35Fighting it out on the one patch of land.
00:39This is just some of the stuff Donnie's been walking over.
00:42Guy's full of s***.
00:43Be lucky if I don't walk over his big nose.
00:47This time.
00:49So finally, we're at the point where we're going to put the pegs in the ground.
00:53Lee stakes his claim in Claremont.
00:56It's a damn good feeling.
00:57I'm knackered, but I'm excited.
01:00Richie returns to Sime to see his mega wash plan come to life.
01:04The water flow needs to change.
01:06The level needs to change.
01:08Yeah, there's heat.
01:10Yeah.
01:10But it's not a happy occasion for the injured owner.
01:14I believe it's going to be quicker to try and fix what we've got, rather than build a holding
01:19sluice.
01:20The way Richie wants to fix it is completely different to mine, so watch this space.
01:26Start me off.
01:27$400.
01:29And Donnie concocks a brainwave gold auction idea.
01:32When you're sitting there and there's no bids coming through and you're like, oh my God,
01:36here we go.
01:36To fund his $18.80 lease purchase.
01:40$38.50 once, twice, three times.
02:06We're going to put another rip through.
02:08At Swiss Diggings, Dennis is working solo to the southeast, and Double Act, Donnie and
02:15Ronnie, are to the northwest.
02:18Righto.
02:19Here we go.
02:21Dennis is still 40 ounces short of his $500,000 season target.
02:27Yeah, so we've got a couple of notes.
02:30It's more already.
02:32Dennis has tabled an offer to Donnie to buy a parcel of land off him called $18.80 if
02:38Donnie can raise the money in time.
02:41Look, the figure for $18.80 is $75,000.
02:44That's what Donnie has to come up with to fully own it 100% outright.
02:48The deal could set Donnie up for life, but it's a time-critical offer.
02:53Donnie needs to come up with the $37,500 deposit by the end of the season.
03:00Dennis is expecting his six ounces of gold, and I've got to get it for him.
03:04Otherwise, we're not pegging.
03:05He won't pegg.
03:07It'll be on him, though, if he wants to own it.
03:09That's what he has to do.
03:11I think what I really need to do with this is come up with a bloody really good idea to
03:17auction it.
03:19Maybe do an $18.80 auction gold sale.
03:23Hey, that's not a bad idea.
03:25$18.80 gold helped me buy my own lease.
03:31So I just wanted to get part of Dennis' deal out of the way and make sure that he knew
03:36that I was fair at income.
03:37I'm not going to shirk him.
03:38So I decided to auction off what gold I've got.
03:42Donnie's brainwave idea to auction off his gold stocks is a double-edged sword.
03:47He may get a premium over the spot price, which is trading just over $6,000 an ounce,
03:53or he may fail to sell anything at all.
03:57Copy, Dennis.
04:00Copy, mate.
04:02Hey, mate, I just had an idea.
04:04There's nothing wrong with telling people what we're trying to do with this $18.80 gold.
04:10Yeah, what do you reckon?
04:11Oh, absolutely not, mate.
04:13Not at all.
04:14I'm thinking over the next few weeks, up to the end of the season, if I could run a few
04:19auctions and call it the $18.80 gold auction and try and raise enough capital to get best
04:27money out of the auctions, obviously.
04:29So if we can find enough gold and I can auction it at the best price, I might be able
04:33to hit
04:33that target a bit quicker than the, hopefully.
04:40I like that idea, Donnie.
04:42That's very, very, very ingenious.
04:46Hopefully come up with some really good top dollar.
04:50It's a good way to make a little bit of extra money on it because people get into that
04:55rhythm of bidding on things and it can become addictive.
05:01I think that's a cracking idea.
05:03I really do.
05:03I think that's probably one of your best.
05:06Was it Ron's idea?
05:08Ron had nothing to do with it, smartass.
05:17On the Gold Coast, Richie is about to find out if he needs surgery for his broken hand.
05:24They might need to put a pin into his knuckle.
05:27So we just had x-rays and about to go in.
05:31Find out if I need surgery.
05:33Yay!
05:36Richie injured his hand while he was helping to transport the wash plan to its processing site.
05:44Ah!
05:46Richie hurt himself!
05:53The wash plan is finally in place.
05:57So this last week has been an absolute nightmare.
06:03Dan has wrangled a few of his mates to help make the final adjustments before switching it on.
06:09It's an exciting moment that's been months in the planning.
06:13The wash plan ended up being a lot more work than I expected.
06:18Yep, man.
06:19We had to raise the pad about five and a half metres and we've still got to do more work
06:23on that pad.
06:27Dan's wife, Kira, and son, Braden, have kept the drive lower turning over, banking an ounce a day off it.
06:34But Team 1870 still only has 38 ounces of gold for the season.
06:39Dan needs the wash plan to change all that.
06:45I swear if I didn't have my mates Tim, Michael and even my son, Braden, helping, none of this would
06:51have happened.
06:51We would not be where we're at now.
06:54Until the wash plan is up and running, Dan won't know if everything works okay.
06:59There's a lot of moving parts.
07:01A lot can go wrong.
07:04My biggest fear is the pump side of things.
07:08The hose is the wrong hose, the fittings are the wrong fittings, so we've just had to basically bodge it
07:13up for now.
07:17Dan's under huge pressure to get the wash plant working before Richie returns to site.
07:23Okay, we've just finished now at the specialist.
07:26Richard doesn't need to have any surgery, which is fantastic news.
07:29We've just got a new splint on and, yeah.
07:33And the good news is, doctor's orders, I don't have to use my hands for four or six weeks, so
07:38Dan, you have to lift your game and do even more mental work.
07:47The two besties are no longer seeing eye to eye.
07:51Richie's losing his patience with the constant delays and operational misfires.
07:56And Dan's fed up with Richie and Kimberley's disappearing act.
08:01I'd like for Richie and Kimbo to get here as well, so everyone can see the first bucket come through.
08:08I'm knackered, but I'm excited.
08:13At the scratchy moomine, Matt and Damo's relentless pace has taken its toll on the machinery.
08:21Scratchy, what have you done?
08:23You bloody wrecked the bloody excavator.
08:27Bloody hell.
08:30Their main excavator has a broken water pump.
08:34I don't know, just turn on other things.
08:37This water pump is a real pest.
08:42Oh, look at the bearing, you can hear it.
08:44It looks like a rock in a sock.
08:47Want me to switch it on so we can have a look?
08:49Yeah, if you want to switch it on, we'll have a look and see what's going on.
08:57Look at it going.
08:58The forwards, the bearings inside are going.
09:04For a couple of days now, we're going to order another water pump on Monday.
09:08It's Sunday now, so hopefully we can have a go on again on Wednesday.
09:13Matt and Damo are just 23 ounces off reaching their 500-ounce target.
09:19They can't afford to be waiting on machine parts.
09:22It means I've got to get down on the lemon.
09:24The lemon has...
09:25El Carter, what have you done?
09:29Lee's excavator, a.k.a. the lemon, could just be their saving grace.
09:35He's paid it now.
09:35He paid it last night, day before he comes back out of here, so...
09:39So, old Leroy, the 15's gone into the account.
09:43The incumbents, the finances, now have been resolved.
09:48So Lee's off trudging around the bush, banging some pegs in,
09:50and hopefully he doesn't trip over a snake.
09:59Today is a monumental day for Lee.
10:02It's time to peg his new lease next door to Scratchy Moon.
10:07So, finally, we're at the point where we're going to go and put the pegs in the ground,
10:11and the application's going in.
10:12Now it's just time.
10:13So, massive relief.
10:15Good, good.
10:16It's just a great feeling.
10:17So, we're up in this top corner here.
10:20Yeah, we just want that.
10:21That corner.
10:21We're at this point, just in here.
10:24Pegging Lee's boundary markers is a difficult job in tough terrain.
10:29Lee's brought his mate Josh along to ensure the marks are spot on.
10:33So, he helps me on the tours, does a lot of the tours now.
10:37Yeah, he's just good at what he does.
10:39Lee plans to run gold mining tours on his new lease to help fund the mining.
10:44We just walk out to the spot, make sure we're on the right numbers.
10:47We're good.
10:48We've got this corner, the other corner peg here.
10:51We've just got to run our pegs beside this.
10:54Bang him in the ground, put our poly pipe on.
10:57We've started our pegging process.
11:00The first boundary point is located towards the south-eastern corner of the Scratchy Moo lease.
11:06God, this is Scratchy Moo's corner peg.
11:09So, we'll just do a quick double check of our GPS.
11:13Perfect.
11:13Perfect.
11:14Do it.
11:14It's official.
11:15Lee is the new lease owner of the land, and he reports to no one.
11:19Let's go.
11:20Bang her in.
11:21Don't hit me hands.
11:23God.
11:24Woo!
11:27Jeez.
11:28Now, don't trust me.
11:29Please.
11:29You want to put a hammer in it.
11:30Yeah, I need to put a hammer in it.
11:31Put a hammer in it.
11:33Oh.
11:35Only trouble is, he's not so good at manual labour.
11:39That's not going to come out.
11:41Peg in the first lease.
11:42Yeehaw.
11:43Exciting times.
11:45Very exciting times.
11:46Ooh.
11:47Oops.
11:49Bingo.
11:50I was very worried I was going to get gazumped on this, so it's a damn good feeling, pegging
11:56your own lease.
11:58It's exciting times.
12:03I'll get down on that and start scratching away at the gravel.
12:06So, yeah, we go.
12:07But this one's out of action now for a few days.
12:10While Lee celebrates his new lease, Matt and Damo are playing a waiting game.
12:15It'll take three days for the new water pump to arrive, and time is something they don't
12:21have.
12:24I'm really feeling that time pressure right now because, you know, at any stage, the
12:28storms are going to fire up, and it's not going to take much to turn that into a slop.
12:32That means you can't get the truck in there, and you can't get the payout.
12:36And once that fills up, we're never, ever getting it out.
12:38It's going to fill up with water at some stage, and then we're going to be not digging here
12:42again.
12:42We're going to have to go find shallow stuff in there.
12:43Where we are now, we're going to be sitting under three metres of water.
12:51The 1870 processing site, and Richie and Kimberley have breezed back in from the Gold
12:57Coast.
12:58Richie was never going to miss this moment.
13:00The launch of his precious $500,000 wash plant.
13:05He is taking the piss now.
13:07I got a little jealous, you know, Richie was getting all the spotlight.
13:10I decide to one-up him and go break my thumb.
13:14So I'm doing more work?
13:15Yeah, absolutely.
13:16There you go.
13:17You haven't heard of someone breaking a thumb shopping before, but, yeah, the kids just
13:21said, oh, mum did it at work.
13:23She's a professional shopper.
13:25So the last week's been crazy.
13:27Not full noise.
13:29Looks like you've been busy.
13:31Yeah, I've got Michael and Tim, they've been helping out.
13:33But, yeah, there's probably three to four hundred truckloads of dirt here and probably another
13:38three to four hundred to go to build the pad out wider.
13:41I'm more nervous about the water flow than anything, because every fitting that was supplied
13:45is wrong, all the hoses wrong.
13:47Every time, what is it?
13:49Three steps forward, two steps backwards, you know.
13:52We're pretty well ready to fire up, I think.
13:54Shall we see if it runs?
13:56Absolutely.
13:57Guess so.
13:58So, make it up and exciting.
14:02Dan's worked day and night for months for this exact moment.
14:07I thought Dan was taking a piss.
14:09He hasn't tested anything.
14:11So, it literally is the maiden run.
14:13Richie's on edge.
14:15He's sunk more than a million dollars of his and Kimberley's money into the mine.
14:19When I saw the final set-up of the wash plant, so excited.
14:24He's desperate to start making some money to get a return off his investment.
14:38The 1870 wash plant stirs to life.
14:42Water's flowing.
14:44It's not quite an El Dorado mode, but the water is running.
14:49Water's flowing.
14:50That's a good sign.
14:53We fired the wash plant up, and it was just the best feeling.
14:57It's something I've been waiting for so long.
14:59I've had dreams.
15:00I've had nightmares about it.
15:02What's that meant to be coming out the top?
15:03I don't think so.
15:06We knew we were going to have water leaks.
15:08We knew we were going to probably have some water pressure issues.
15:10But until we turned it on, we didn't know.
15:16Wash plants are sensitive to pressure and flow.
15:19Too much or too little water flow, and the machine won't capture the gold.
15:24The only way to find out if it works is to load in some dirt.
15:30There we go.
15:31He's going to start off with the first load.
15:33It goes over the hopper, yeah.
15:35I thought it just went all in the hole.
15:47At Swiss Diggings, the Donnie and Ronnie show is firing up.
15:52Donnie's on new site now, so we'll see how we go.
15:59But it's starting to get a bit warm now.
16:02They need to get on the gold.
16:05The stakes have never been higher for Donnie.
16:11I know you're looking forward to having your own lease.
16:16Oh, you've got to, Ron.
16:17You're never going to make money working for...
16:19No, when you're giving everyone else a cut,
16:22you're not going to...
16:24You're not going to get ahead.
16:29Donnie and Ronnie are tackling the same dry river bed gold run as Dennis,
16:34but from the opposite end.
16:36At the moment, I'm coming through this ground here,
16:39and I'm chasing this run up the hill,
16:41basically from where Donnie is,
16:42where I've got Donnie down where he is at the moment.
16:44He's trying to chase the bottom end of it.
16:46The idea is to keep going,
16:48because I believe that this run continues right the way through.
16:52I'm just going to give it a rip, Ron.
17:00Donnie's come up with another bright idea.
17:03He's using a ripper attachment to break up the hard rock
17:06and reduce the amount of metal shavings left behind in the pit
17:10from the excavator bucket.
17:11And that should reduce the number of false positives they keep getting.
17:16It cuts down the time factor
17:18and also makes it easier on the person using the pick.
17:22And I'm going home and I'm not feeling so bloody sore.
17:25Rips everything up, pulls it up, and just...
17:27It's good.
17:29Dennis's decision to take on Donnie as a contractor...
17:32He'd come up with the idea of running an auction,
17:35and he's obviously put a bit of thought into it.
17:37He's starting to look like a stroke of genius.
17:41That's a brilliant thing for me,
17:42because whatever he finds is going to end up...
17:45Well, practically nearly 100% of it's going to come back at me.
17:48Ultimately, at the end of the day, I'm still winning out of it
17:50because, you know, I'm getting a sale of ground as well.
17:55I'm in a win-win situation.
17:57Dennis's day is on the up and up.
18:02There you go. There's one.
18:07There's a ripper pull here.
18:09They're not actually killing themselves anymore.
18:13Sounding good.
18:20Damn it, Dennis.
18:21Oh, there it is there.
18:23You beauty.
18:25About 6 grams, I reckon, for sure.
18:27Maybe more.
18:27Probably 1,100 bucks worth of gold, that.
18:30That's an absolute cracker.
18:32I'm stoked.
18:33It's really good.
18:34That's good, mate.
18:35He's just got a nice cracker one there.
18:40Whee!
18:41There's another goodie.
18:49That's good.
18:52Oh, shit.
18:53That's a beauty, that is.
18:55I reckon that'll probably go maybe 3 and a bit, 4.
19:04Lee's a peg away from securing his mining future.
19:08Right next door to Matt and Damo at Scratchy Moo.
19:11He's hoping the lease will be a highly lucrative one.
19:15All right, this is the last peg.
19:18We'll need our GPS coords for this because there's no other peg here.
19:21Yeah, yeah, I'll bring him up now.
19:23We should be pretty close here.
19:26How close are we?
19:29That's pretty much on the spot.
19:30That looks damn good for me.
19:32Perfect.
19:32Perfect.
19:33Nail her in.
19:34Let's get her in, eh?
19:42This was the last one, wasn't it?
19:43Yeah, we'll just cut then.
19:45Bingo.
19:46Done.
19:46Last peg.
19:48Game on now.
19:50It's a bit emotional.
19:51It's a big step, peg in the lease.
19:52It's a lot of money.
19:54You need a bit of balls to have a bit of a crack at this
19:57because you can lose your money super quick doing this game,
20:00playing this game.
20:13Dirt's starting to come through.
20:18Losing money is something Richie's all too familiar with.
20:221870 needs to start paying, and fast.
20:26The whole team is waiting anxiously to see if the wash plant can actually process dirt.
20:32If it can, there'll be high fives all round.
20:35A fail now, and serious questions will need to be asked.
20:40I've spent over six months researching different wash plants all over the world.
20:44I've discussed this design with Dan along the way,
20:46and we've changed things back to the border,
20:48and it's totally customised for the ground we've got here.
20:51It's going to be a bit of tweaking.
20:53Yeah.
20:53I mean, it doesn't matter about the dust, by the way.
20:56Getting those things fine-tuned, that's going to be the issue.
20:59The fine-tuning stage might just be a little premature.
21:07Yeah.
21:09Dan has discovered a major problem with the feed rate.
21:16So, it went from the best feeling ever to the hopper.
21:22It's probably got a bit too much weight on it, though.
21:25And now, Richie has spotted a second problem.
21:28The water inlet to the shaker sluice is leaking.
21:32When I arrived, part of the frame was bent,
21:35so the water's hidden where it's been bent.
21:38So, I'm going to put something on top of it to stop the water coming down.
21:43Bit of bark.
21:45Nature's gift.
21:57It's a lot better than it was.
21:59Richie's bush fix is kind of working,
22:02but Dan is still battling with the blocked hopper.
22:06I can feel there's a big piece of slate that's on top of it.
22:10If they want to get it going again,
22:13Dan will need to climb in and clear the blockage.
22:18Putting wet dirt through, got stuck to the side of the hopper,
22:21so I've had to jump in there, clean it up,
22:23and open the chute at the bottom.
22:30Get some gold out of here.
22:35At Scratchy Moo,
22:36Damo's swab cuts and excavators.
22:40All righty-o, we'll hop into the lemon excavator.
22:43Give it a bit of a bad rap.
22:44It's not that bad.
22:45Needs a bit of an overhaul,
22:47but it's dug me a pretty good hole here.
22:50The lemon excavator,
22:52Matt and Damo accepted as part of the trade for their lease,
22:55is now battling hard ground.
22:59I came down and found a spot here,
23:01and I pulled some amazing nuggets.
23:03And they were banana-shaped nuggets,
23:05so I nicknamed it the banana patch.
23:08Super hard layer.
23:10And then suddenly it just goes bang!
23:13Because the detector's just going wild
23:15with that much gold underneath it,
23:17so it's pretty exciting,
23:19but it's really hard on the machines.
23:24Lee has finished pegging his new lease
23:27and is savouring the moment,
23:29taking it all in.
23:30It's a bit ironic that the lemon,
23:33the so-called lemon,
23:34is now in the banana cut,
23:36pulling out their gold,
23:37which could actually save their season.
23:41Lee's gone from hustler to saviour,
23:44and there's more joy to come for Damo.
23:46While Lee waits on the paperwork
23:48on his lease to go through,
23:50he's agreed to help Team Scratchy Moo
23:52hit their target.
23:54All right, this is where
23:56it's starting to come alive, my friend.
23:58It's such a little specific spot, though,
24:00for all the effort.
24:01The quid pro quo
24:02is that Lee gets to learn
24:04what the ground is doing
24:06just a few hundred metres away
24:07from his lease.
24:09That's swarf.
24:12That's swarf too.
24:16That's swarf too.
24:18It's all swarf.
24:19How are you picking that?
24:21Because it's on the surface
24:22and it's screaming,
24:23and that's not where you find the gold.
24:24Did you see what I just did?
24:26You'll find massive pieces of bucket there.
24:30It's not even a big swarf
24:31compared to the stuff that comes off.
24:33Swarf is the little metal bits
24:35that come off the bucket
24:36when you're digging the ground.
24:38It's particularly bad
24:39when you're digging really hard ground.
24:44All swarf, down here.
24:46You go in there,
24:47and there is swarf everywhere.
24:54That sounds a little bit different.
24:56Are you digging or am I?
24:57Because that sounds...
24:58You're digging.
24:59It's too hot.
25:00All right.
25:01Have a go, have a go.
25:05Oh, yes.
25:13Man, oh, man, oh, man, oh, man.
25:18Donnie's under the pump.
25:19He needs to raise 37 and a half grand
25:22in five weeks.
25:24It's been a little bit quiet
25:26in the middle of the day.
25:28I'm digging in an area
25:29where there's a shallow creek
25:30about a metre deep in the creek,
25:32and there's a shelf up
25:33on the left-hand side.
25:35Hopefully we can jack a couple more
25:37before we knock off.
25:42I don't like...
25:44Now, gravels look like they stop
25:45right there in front of you, Ron.
25:47They just hit that wall
25:49and then it's all loam.
25:51I have one,
25:52I was trying to swing past him,
25:53I swang round him.
25:55I was getting nothing
25:57in the top shelf run
25:59and I was definitely
26:00getting nothing in the loam
26:02and I started not to worry
26:03too much about the loam.
26:07Hi-yah!
26:10Ho-ho-ho!
26:13What the...
26:14What?
26:14Couldn't be galled up that eye
26:16in that loam.
26:22Things are looking up
26:23for Donny and Ronnie
26:24and that's also good news
26:26for Dennis.
26:34What have you got going on?
26:35There, have a listen to this.
26:39Come on, bear nuggie.
26:42God, you've got some distance
26:44above that.
26:45Come on.
26:47Half it.
26:48There it is.
26:49Come on, how big's that?
26:52Have a go of this.
26:56That's a decent dash.
27:00Give it a wash.
27:01What is it doing up there
27:03in the lane, man?
27:05Oh, look at that.
27:06Oh, man.
27:07How tricky is that?
27:10That's solid too,
27:11by the way, isn't it?
27:12Yeah, it looks pretty solid
27:13to me, man.
27:14Good stuff.
27:15Yeah.
27:15Cool.
27:16Cool, cool.
27:18I'll go get the scales.
27:20What do you reckon, Ron?
27:22Well, I said 15.
27:24I'll stick with 15.
27:26I reckon 19.8.
27:29I'm going to say 25.
27:33It's not 25.
27:35It's not 15 either, do you?
27:39Oh, 22.2.
27:43That is a cracker.
27:44That's not bad.
27:44Well, you're closer than what I was.
27:46That is an absolute cracker.
27:48That's not bad.
27:50Where's those other ones
27:51we got this morning, Ron?
27:53There's a bit of gold in that.
27:54Oh, nearly an ounce.
27:5630.8.
27:5730.8.
27:58A million ounce.
27:59Plus, I reckon, I reckon two grams.
28:01So, definitely over an ounce.
28:03Yeah, I think you've got over an ounce, though.
28:04There's no doubt about it.
28:05I reckon there's a couple of grams in there.
28:07No doubt about it.
28:08That's cool.
28:09Oh, $5,500 a day.
28:14Donnie and Ronnie's contribution
28:16rounds off a nine-ounce week
28:18for Team Swiss Diggings.
28:20All Donnie needs now
28:22is for his auction tonight
28:23to be a success.
28:29At 1870,
28:31Dan is inching his way out of trouble.
28:34Yeah, it's getting there now.
28:36We had a fair bit of rain
28:37a couple of days ago,
28:38so all our pay-dots just sticking.
28:41But it's still a case
28:42of two steps forward,
28:44one step back.
28:47The amount of water
28:49washing over the sluice boxes
28:50is way out of balance.
28:52The one on the left
28:53is flowing freely,
28:55but the one on the right
28:56has barely any water running over it.
28:59I'm a bit worried
29:00about the water flow in this one.
29:01It's not going to be enough
29:02to do what we need it to do.
29:04The water flow
29:05needs to be strong enough
29:07to wash away the gravel
29:08and trap the heavier gold particles
29:10in the ripple trays.
29:13I feel like we need to spread this out.
29:14It's going to bulk up.
29:18I think this is going to need
29:19a fair bit of work,
29:20this.
29:21See if we can work out
29:22if we can adjust the speed
29:23of the vibrations of them.
29:25The water flow needs to change.
29:27The level needs to change.
29:29Yeah, there's heaps.
29:31There's so much things
29:31I want to be tinkering with,
29:33but...
29:34Yeah.
29:35I'll just be...
29:36I'm going to hurt myself again
29:37if I do it.
29:40Dan's finally got the hopper cleared.
29:42I'm going to hurt myself again.
29:53Yeah.
29:55Kill the conveyor, please.
29:57But it's crisis after crisis.
30:01Looked over and then
30:02there's a second problem.
30:04Looks like that second shake
30:06is not working very good, eh?
30:08Yeah, I think we're
30:10slightly off level.
30:12The launch of the wash plan
30:14is an unmitigated fizzer.
30:16Leaky pipes,
30:17a blocked hopper
30:18and poor water flow.
30:20That's lacking a lot of water flow, eh?
30:23This water issue
30:24has got me pretty concerned.
30:27All right, we reckon
30:28we kill everything
30:28and have a bit of a meeting, eh?
30:30Yeah, I think so.
30:37Yeah, well, there's no grovels
30:38down here at all,
30:39so it's all caught up in here.
30:42Look, all this rock
30:43getting down this far
30:44was by hand.
30:45Absolutely gutted
30:46because I just wanted
30:47it to run right.
30:49And I wanted to run it
30:50for a lot longer
30:50so we could get
30:51a bit more of an accurate result.
30:54To me, it was a bit of a failure.
30:57A bit gutted.
30:58I was just hoping
30:59to run some dirt.
31:01Give it a couple of hours today,
31:02we'll do what we know
31:03needs to be done
31:04and we'll turn it back on.
31:05Yeah, let's write up a list.
31:07It will be a long list
31:09and that will cost
31:10more time
31:11and more money.
31:13Even if I can connect
31:14up a three-inch pump
31:15without everything running
31:16except for that shaker sluice,
31:18we can probably wash
31:18all that stuff down.
31:20We've got fittings up there.
31:21I don't know if it's
31:22two, three, four-inch.
31:23I've got no idea.
31:24All right, let's go up
31:25and sort it out.
31:33Yeah, that's pretty
31:35heavy-duty slate.
31:38Scratchy moo
31:39and this is what
31:40Claremont money
31:41sounds like.
31:42Have a listen.
31:44We'll go down.
31:46Ooh.
31:47And you know straight away
31:48I'm under the goal.
31:50Somewhere there.
31:53Oh.
31:54Oh, you're in it.
31:57That's it.
31:59That's what we're getting now.
32:00That'll be eight,
32:01ten grammer.
32:04Yeah, we're on it, fella.
32:06I reckon that's at least
32:06eight, could be nine.
32:08Good job.
32:09Yeah.
32:10Oh, when it's on,
32:11I never underestimate
32:13when it turns on
32:14when there's gold like that.
32:16Yeah.
32:17And it's just that little,
32:18look how thin the layer is.
32:20The hard rock top layer
32:22is just a few inches thick.
32:24Buried beneath it
32:25is a band of sandy yellow gravel
32:27that Damo hopes
32:28is full of gold.
32:32Ooh.
32:35There it is there, look!
32:40That's a good bit too.
32:42Yeah, we'll see how it's got
32:43that black and yellow sand
32:44that it's sitting in.
32:45It's just hard as.
32:46Once you get it
32:47in a bit of water
32:48or a bit of acid,
32:49they come out
32:49and this is amazing.
32:50Yeah, beautiful.
32:51Oh, yeah,
32:52when he hit that second layer
32:54and all those little
32:56banana-y nuggets
32:57started popping out everywhere,
32:59and some of them weren't little,
33:01that was really surprising.
33:03Just,
33:04they might have hit
33:05the deep leaf.
33:06They're in a good patch.
33:07They're in a good spot.
33:08All right, let's go.
33:12That's a good nugget.
33:14That is a good nugget.
33:15Yeah.
33:16Yeah, that's how.
33:17He moved it.
33:17I think it started up here
33:18or up here.
33:19Somewhere here.
33:23Man, we're banging it.
33:24Oh, is that it there?
33:25Can you see it?
33:26Yeah.
33:26Oh!
33:29They come out
33:30sort of ugly from here,
33:31but underneath...
33:33Oh, yeah, that'll be stunning.
33:34No, but that'll come off.
33:35That'll come off.
33:36That's bigger than the others.
33:37Oh, they're probably similar.
33:45Seven circles there.
33:48Seven circles there.
33:48At Swiss Diggings,
33:49Donnie's preparing his gold for auction.
33:52He needs the money for the $18.80 lease
33:54he wants to buy off Dennis.
33:57So, what I usually do is just a shot of the gold that's up,
34:00do individual weights and put it up on lots.
34:03Donnie's dipped his toes into the online auction world before,
34:07but just not on this scale or with this much pressure.
34:10I'm always nervous before an auction.
34:13I'm always nervous before I go live.
34:15He's liquidating everything he owns.
34:18For me to buy in with Dennis,
34:21I need to sell six ounces,
34:22but tonight,
34:23because that's a big call to sell that much gold in one night,
34:27so three ounces tonight is a big sale.
34:29So, if I can come up with the money for Dennis
34:31to give him his 50% before the end of the season,
34:35this will go a long way to helping that.
34:38Donnie knows that the gold
34:39needs to look its best.
34:41It's been chemically cleaned
34:43and is now ready for photographing and cataloguing.
34:46The old rusty pick just makes the gold pop.
34:52Got a few nice pendant pieces up tonight,
34:55about four grams.
34:57So, this is the one we found in the cut.
34:59It'll come up around 20 grams.
35:02The WTF nugget.
35:04I actually do a proper auction.
35:06I don't just sit there.
35:07I actually pump it
35:08and do the auction proper.
35:10To have any chance
35:12of making his 1880 dream a reality,
35:15Donnie will need to sell
35:16more than $16,000 worth of gold tonight.
35:20Trying to, you know,
35:21come up with the money for Dennis,
35:22it's quite hard.
35:24It's a bit of a headache,
35:25but...
35:34I don't think we need that shaker sluice in that spot.
35:37I think it's important with the lighter material
35:41coming out of the concentrator.
35:44So, I think we build a standard sluice,
35:47put Hungarian riffles on the top end.
35:50Dan's proposal to swap out the shaker sluice
35:53for a standard sluice
35:54will cost more time and money.
35:57It also completely contradicts Richie's design plans.
36:01Those shaker sluices are so wide.
36:05You know, um...
36:07..needs a hell of a lot of water for that.
36:11Now, yes, that would fix the problem.
36:13But, to me, that's the lazy way out.
36:16The businessman and the mine manager
36:18are at loggerheads.
36:20You know, I'm not going to make a decision
36:22until I have a drink.
36:25We don't have to just yet.
36:26I'm happy to try it.
36:31It's your day to first time.
36:39We've got 15 minutes to live.
36:42At Swiss Diggings,
36:44Donnie's Gold Auction is about to go live.
36:47The nuggets are all looking glittery and shiny.
36:51If we sell at spot,
36:55at minimum we should get around $16,000.
37:01Right, eh?
37:03Pick it up just a tad.
37:04Yeah, you can probably get up just a tad, yeah.
37:06There we go.
37:07So, that's good.
37:09That's good.
37:10You can hit the live button.
37:12All right, excellent.
37:13Let's go live.
37:15The auction is underway.
37:1835 potential bidders have streamed in.
37:21Let's go, number one.
37:23Every dollar over the gold spot price
37:26gets Donnie closer to that elusive $37,500 cash buy-in figure
37:32he so desperately needs.
37:34Closer to his dream of running his own outfit.
37:38Start me off.
37:39$400.
37:39$400.
37:40Somebody start me.
37:42$400.
37:44$400 for the beautiful,
37:47long,
37:48solid,
37:51$18.80 gold.
37:52When you're sitting there
37:54and there's no bids coming through
37:55and you're like,
37:55oh my God,
37:56here we go.
37:57Certified
37:58and comes with the new
38:02calico bag.
38:07$360.
38:09$360.
38:11Bit low, guys.
38:19Awesome.
38:20All right.
38:21It's a good week.
38:22Time to melt some gold.
38:27It's liquid gold time at Scratchy Moon.
38:31Get rid of some gum.
38:34It's all popping crackles.
38:35Snap, crackle and pop.
38:37Wow.
38:37It's like the women's golf.
38:39I love watching it.
38:42Matt uses a blowtorch
38:44to melt down the gold
38:45along with a chemical substance
38:47called flux
38:47to remove any impurities.
38:50It just looks special.
38:51It's just one of the things about gold.
38:55Yeah, it's just unique.
38:57It just looks beautiful.
38:58Excellent, guys.
39:00Another again.
39:02All right, Dave.
39:04This one should be pretty shiny
39:05and beautiful at the end.
39:07Just kind of leave it like that
39:08and stop.
39:09Yeah, one, two, three.
39:11Bang.
39:12All right.
39:12Looks like a planet.
39:14All right, Dave.
39:14Wow, that's beautiful.
39:16All right.
39:18Oh.
39:20Jigsaw.
39:21That is a very tasty egg yolk.
39:23What a red one.
39:24Oh, that's heavy.
39:25Wow.
39:26That's a good pour.
39:28What's it weigh?
39:316.32 ounces.
39:33The six-ounce gold button
39:36keeps scratchy moo at the top
39:38of the Claremont leaderboard.
39:40They've banked $416,500 for the season.
39:45Ripper.
39:47Yeah, good work.
39:48Yeah, good work.
39:55At 1870, Dan and Ritchie
39:58have major differences of opinion
40:00about how to fix the wash plant.
40:02I believe it's going to be quicker
40:04to try and fix what we've got
40:05rather than build a whole new sluice.
40:08I shared my thoughts with Ritchie.
40:10He very fast shut it down.
40:15Even with high water flow,
40:18I can't see it moving those rocks.
40:21I'm not going to just sit there
40:22and just waste all the money
40:24I've spent on this vibrating sluice
40:26when we can fix the problem.
40:28It will because it pulsates.
40:30So when it goes down
40:31and then it comes back up,
40:33that's when it's going to push.
40:35The wash plant fail
40:37is a better pill to swallow.
40:39They only have two options left.
40:41Rebuild from scratch
40:42or buy more gear
40:44and fix what they have.
40:46Both will cost time and money.
40:49As soon as we can get it running,
40:51we're pulling gold.
40:53I think if we can build a spray bar
40:55along the back of it
40:57and have it running straight out,
41:00I think we're in for a much better chance.
41:02I still think the vibrating sluice
41:04is the way to go.
41:06The way Ritchie wants to fix it
41:08is completely different to mine.
41:10So watch this space.
41:17Get low, guys.
41:19$440.
41:20$440.
41:21Sold.
41:23After a slow start,
41:25Donnie's live gold auction
41:26has kicked into gear.
41:28$5,300.
41:30The bids are coming in thick and fast.
41:34Sold.
41:36At a pub in Claremont,
41:38Donnie's mining mate, Ronnie,
41:40eagerly watches on.
41:41He stands to make 10%
41:43on some of the nuggets he helped find.
41:46$1,050.
41:48Who was detecting that one?
41:49The peasant.
41:50The peasant, yeah.
41:51Yeah, exactly right.
41:52Yeah, exactly.
41:52Peasant.
41:53That's right.
41:53What have we got?
41:54We've got $1,056.
41:56Sold.
41:58Come on.
41:58Well done.
41:59To hit their $16,000 target,
42:03they'll need a minimum of $3,300
42:05for the WTF nugget.
42:08Righto, guys.
42:09Last one for the night.
42:11This is the WTF nug.
42:13The what the f*** nug.
42:14It is 20.31 right now.
42:18Pulled out by Ron, actually.
42:20$3,500.
42:21$3,500 bid now.
42:23$3,700 bid now.
42:24$3,780.
42:26$3,800 bid now.
42:28$3,830.
42:29$3,850.
42:31Once.
42:33Twice.
42:34Three times.
42:36Sold.
42:38There you go, guys.
42:41That was a good auction.
42:42$16,352.
42:45That's good.
42:46Bangor.
42:48Starting to get a little bit of security in my life,
42:50and it's been a long time coming, I'll tell you,
42:54and I can only thank this guy for that.
42:56I had a lot of people bloody treat me bad,
43:00tread all over me along the way,
43:03but that's all coming to an end.
43:06Found me mojo again.
43:08See you, mate.
43:13Next time.
43:14I've got this bloody shaker table working.
43:18Richie battles with his latest equipment purchase.
43:22Possible with his hand.
43:23Everything I go to touch with his hand,
43:26it is agony.
43:28I'm going to look like if I don't have this thing running.
43:31So I'm now $1.2 million in the red.
43:33This shaker table has to work.
43:37All right, just there.
43:38Hey, look.
43:39Who's the mysterious stranger
43:41trespassing on Matt and Damo's lease?
43:43What are you doing?
43:44What's going on, mate?
43:47And war erupts in the pit.
43:49What did I say?
43:50Don't attack until I turn it off.
43:53Look, you...
43:54Back.
43:55Donnie and Ronnie's double act
43:56blows up big time.
43:58Take your...
43:59Get the...
44:01Out of the pit.
44:02And...
44:03Off.
44:05Off.
44:05Off.
44:05Off.
44:06Off.
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