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Gold Wars Downunder - Season 1 - Episode 08
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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. The wars are on.
00:22Never once in my whole life did I ever say to you that you could have my logo.
00:30We have three mining teams.
00:32We have to throw 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, pull it.
00:44Be lucky if I don't walk over his big nose.
00:47This time.
00:49There was gold getting caught in corners of the machine.
00:52Gold everywhere.
00:52Little flakes of gold and little nuggets.
00:55It was awesome.
00:56Richie and Kimberly's $1.2 million investment.
01:00Finally starts to pay off.
01:02Well, that's a good sign.
01:04It's great and overloaded.
01:07Look.
01:08Guide us there.
01:08Hey, look.
01:09Who's the mysterious stranger poaching on Matt and Damo's lease?
01:14Hey!
01:15How you doing?
01:16And in the pit at Swiss Diggies.
01:18What did I say?
01:19Don't detect until I turn it off.
01:22Look, you.
01:23Back.
01:24Donnie and Ronnie's double act blows up big time.
01:27Take your...
01:28It's that guy.
01:29Get the...
01:30Get out of the pit.
01:31And...
01:32Come on.
01:50There'll be some good nuggets in here.
01:52There will be.
01:53Claremont, Central Queensland.
01:55And Team Swiss Diggings are hard at it.
01:59Mine owner Dennis is on the gold.
02:02Have a go of that.
02:04Woo-wee.
02:05Yeah, it should be seven grams, I reckon.
02:08That's a good little piece of gold.
02:11Only problem is, Dennis is 25 ounces short of hitting his 100 ounce season target.
02:18And he's running out of time.
02:20In a matter of weeks, the local temperature will soar into the high 40s and the season will
02:27be over.
02:28Our target...
02:29I reckon we're going to fall short.
02:32Donnie's also hard up against it.
02:34I didn't think there was any colour out there, but I took some of that bank out there, mate,
02:38and there's colour going in underneath.
02:39Yeah.
02:39There's a big bit of a pocket in here, so...
02:42He wants to help Dennis hit his target.
02:46But at the same time, he's got his own target to worry about.
02:51I'm hoping we might pick up a bit of gold in there.
02:54With Ronnie's help, Donnie's raised 50% of the 37.5 grand buy-in price he needs to secure
03:02the 1880 lease.
03:04But without the rest of it, all bets are off.
03:08There's some beautiful gravel in there.
03:11There is some good news.
03:13Donnie's got his trusty old excavator back in action, and that means he now gets to keep
03:1970% of everything he finds.
03:22By using his excavator, his original 40-60 deal with Dennis has flipped to 70-30 in his
03:29favour.
03:30Trying to pay for the new lease up the road so that I can get 100% of the gold
03:35instead
03:36of bloody 70% of the gold.
03:38I've still got about 400 metres of lease edge to go up to the next white peg.
03:44I wanted him to check and make sure that he was at the bottom end of that run that I'm
03:49currently on at the moment.
03:50Donnie and Ronnie are on hard, rocky ground at the bottom of an old creek bed.
03:56It's back-breaking work.
03:58We call it BDM mining, so it's brain-dead mining, and where you march from one peg straight
04:08down to the next peg, and you just do everything in front of you.
04:12At the opposite end of the old creek system, Dennis is working the shallow ground, and he's hit a sweet
04:19little gold patch.
04:20A bit of quartz in it.
04:21Nice little speci.
04:23I'd say it's probably about four grams.
04:26I get that it's not ideal, Ron.
04:28We've just got to suck it up, mate.
04:30Ronnie gets 10% of Donnie's 70% share, but when you're not on the gold, that's 10% of
04:37nothing.
04:38Why aren't we following up higher where the gold was?
04:42Because the plan of attack is to dig post-to-post.
04:47I don't think that's fair.
04:51Ronnie's getting frustrated.
04:52He's fed up with Dennis getting to decide where he and Donnie get to dig and detect,
04:57and Ronnie's the one who has to do the grunt work in the pit.
05:01Comes a time when you're not getting the gold, it looks like it could start costing you money.
05:07It gets a bit upsetting and a bit frustrating, and I get that.
05:15This bit of ground here has been so juicy.
05:18It's paid up really nicely.
05:21At Scratchy Moon, Matt and Damo are down to just one working machine.
05:26So the old lemon excavator's holding forward at the moment, although it's got a few little
05:31glitches that's concerning me.
05:33So give it a bit of a pat and say, good girl, get going.
05:40Their main excavator is waiting on a replacement water pump, and Matt's digger is getting serviced.
05:47So they're having to make do with the so-called lemon excavator, the one Lee threw in as part
05:54of the deal he did for a parcel of their land.
05:56The lemon excavator!
05:59All right, Leroy.
06:02Damo's working an area the duo have dubbed the Banana Patch, where the gold appears to
06:08lie in a narrow, sandy band under hard rock.
06:11The Banana Patch has been paying some just amazing days.
06:15I mean, just digging hard to get to the bottom of that gravel, and then you get down there,
06:20and it's just coming alive with just ounces and ounces of gold.
06:23But it's a bit patchy, and it's really hard on the machine.
06:28Team Scratchy Moo have banked 83 ounces of gold.
06:32They're the Claremont Goldfields leaders, and within striking distance of their 100-ounce
06:37target.
06:38Can the lemon excavator get them to the season's end finish line?
06:42In this situation, I need to be able to swap the mud bucket to the tooth bucket to be
06:47able to dig through the gravel.
06:48Oh, you, buddy, of a thing.
06:53This is the glitch that's been worrying me a little bit, though, because the solenoid's
06:59been playing up on the hitch.
07:02Excavators use hydraulics to unlock and swap the buckets.
07:07The hydraulics are controlled by an electronic switch, and the lemon switch is playing up.
07:16The solenoid's been playing up a little bit, which disengages the ram and allows the bucket
07:20to come off.
07:21And this spot is really important that I'm able to do that, because I need the tooth bucket
07:27to be able to dig at that face, because it's just so hard.
07:29I can't do it with the mud bucket.
07:35Hey, Moo Cow, are you around?
07:40I think we should be able to go off and follow the gold and then come back when we've made
07:47some money.
07:47It's not my decision, Ron.
07:49I can't just do what I want to do.
07:51At Swiss Diggings, the Ronnie and Donnie show is turning sour.
07:56They're off the gold, and cracks are starting to appear in their relationship.
08:01I've got Ron in the cut.
08:03He's struggling and whinging.
08:05And then, Ronnie has an issue with Dennis' mining plan.
08:09That's bloody all right for somebody that owns the property and they're not paying the
08:14diesel.
08:15The thing here with Dennis is we mine from A to B, and that's what I'm sticking to.
08:21That's what he's told me to do, so that's what I'm doing.
08:23Last thing I want to do is piss Dennis off.
08:26Donnie brought Ronnie to help speed up his gold recovery process, not to tell him how to
08:32mine.
08:32I've got a good idea.
08:34How about you concentrate more on detecting the ground and pinpointing targets and not
08:38worry about how I mine?
08:41Wins, wins, wins.
08:43Dennis wants Ronnie and Donnie to follow a systematic path through the creek bed from post to post.
08:50I don't want holes being jumped, and I don't want, you know, turning left and turning right and doing it
08:55to your own will.
08:55We need to sit down and discuss the reasons of why you're doing what you're doing.
08:59It's all right for him.
09:00Like, we're not on the bloody gold.
09:04I'm standing out in the bloody sun all day long.
09:08He's sitting on his arse in the machine.
09:10Hey, why didn't you bloody dig that as well?
09:14Because I'm just concentrating on this creek to start off with.
09:17Come on up.
09:19How about you worry about detecting and I worry about how I dig?
09:23Yeah, when I'm detecting, stop picking on me.
09:27Mate, I'm not picking on you.
09:28How am I picking on you?
09:30That's how I bloody feel.
09:32Oh, this is going to be a good day today.
09:52All righty, so we're back in business.
09:55Buying that gold.
09:56At 18.7, after months of disappointing setbacks and cost blowouts,
10:02both gold processing machines are finally up and running.
10:07We're almost at the end of our season.
10:08And we've finally got the drive lock and going.
10:10We've finally got the wet plan up and going.
10:12We're finally making some gold.
10:13So it's pretty exciting.
10:15Richie and Dan are back on good terms
10:18after a full and frank discussion
10:20about how to fix the faulty wash plant.
10:24Had to do what Richie said,
10:25and that was build a spray bar for it.
10:28It's working, it's running.
10:29So I had my ideas and, yeah, it's a lot different to what Richie's were.
10:36And they may not be overly happy about it,
10:38but it's working and we're kicking hearts.
10:41Dan's wife, Kira, and son, Brayden,
10:44have been running the dry blower around the clock.
10:47Oh, you need to go slower, mate.
10:49Next one, go a bit slower, yeah?
10:52Yeah, all right.
10:52Team 1870 has only produced 45 ounces of gold for the season,
10:58and that's largely due to machinery challenges.
11:01To hit their 100-ounce target,
11:04they'll need the dry blower and the wash plant
11:06to deliver a combined total of three ounces of gold a day.
11:11They have just three weeks left to do it.
11:14OK, bring her up a bit.
11:15Up a bit.
11:18OK, let's go.
11:19The pressure's on Richie to find a way
11:22to process the gold concentrate.
11:25I'm going to get rid of it.
11:26I'm making a little waterfall off here.
11:28Should be coming off the table
11:29between this point and this point.
11:32Richie spent $50,000 building a gold room,
11:36a shipping container fitted out with all the gear needed
11:39to extract every speck of gold.
11:42I literally all have to do is throw two bloody screws in
11:44and we're ready to start turning it on.
11:46I think I can bloody find a drill to do it
11:48No, so on the hunt I'll go.
11:52The centrepiece of the room is the shaker table.
11:56It's crucial to separate the gold from the waste material.
12:01I'm up here.
12:02I've got this bloody shaker table working.
12:04That's just delay after delay.
12:06I'm going to look like if I don't have this thing running.
12:09Richard, can you hurry up and help me get this power slide
12:11before I get started?
12:12All the drills should be back there.
12:14They're not there.
12:17Kimberley's supposed to be helping Richie with the shaker table.
12:21But she's too busy kitting out her own treasure grotto.
12:25You know, you've taken me away from home,
12:27so I need to have those little luxuries out here,
12:30considering what I'm surrounded by.
12:35Dresses, jewellery, hats, a container fit for a Claremont queen.
12:41I've taken the opportunity to come up here and try and set up my wardrobe.
12:45While the boys have been busy fixing things,
12:48I've taken over one of the new containers that arrived.
12:50So, yeah, it's now my wardrobe and I've decked it out
12:53as much as well as I can at, you know, being stuck out here.
12:56I might keep the snakes away, you know, the sparkle.
12:59There's no denying Richie's extra spray bars have improved the water flow.
13:05So we're still getting a bit of dirt sticking to both hoppers.
13:10But his quick fix requires way more manpower
13:14to get the wash plant running smoothly.
13:16The brother-in-law's had to come here.
13:19Kira's brother Kyle is now on the payroll
13:22and Brayden's mate Joey has also come in to lend a hand.
13:26Must have had a bigger rock go over
13:28and just blocked the entrance at a trommel.
13:30Looks like Kyle's getting it sorted.
13:32Dan can't afford any more delays or breakdowns.
13:36Time's crucial.
13:37You know, the wet season's not far away,
13:39so every second now counts.
13:42We've got to be running as... every second.
13:47Can you turn that water flow on?
13:49I might turn the feed down a little to those.
13:53There's one big rock there.
13:55This is what happens when you get one flat rock.
13:58Yeah.
14:06What next?
14:08All right, Brussels sprout.
14:09What have we broken now?
14:11Just every time we get a bit of momentum,
14:13it just starts to f*** up.
14:15At Scratchy Moon,
14:17a layer of hard bed rock
14:19has brought Matt and Damo's lemon excavator
14:21to a grinding halt.
14:23Keep going, keep going,
14:24because it's...
14:24Put a spanner on her every now and then
14:26to keep her going.
14:27It's pressure all round with costs
14:29and parts and machinery,
14:32so it's just a continual nightmare
14:34that you have to put up with in this game.
14:37Oh, God.
14:39Well, it's a lemon excavator.
14:40The door's about to fall off.
14:41The lemon is their last working machine.
14:45Oh, God.
14:48Solenoid's gone.
14:49It's going to take ten minutes to fit it
14:50and probably two days or three days to get here.
14:53This is getting hard.
14:55Over there, we're starting to run out,
14:57so let's work out the next spot.
14:58I reckon that's a good use of time.
15:03Oh.
15:04Bloody lemon.
15:08At 18.7, Dan and Kite are trying to clear a block
15:13in the wash plant.
15:19There we go.
15:20Look at it flying out.
15:21Yeah.
15:22The pay dirt from the wash plant
15:24is what hopefully will contain the gold.
15:27It needs to be separated and carefully collected,
15:30and that requires another bit of gear.
15:33Now what I'm doing is I'm actually building
15:35the shaker table to actually run this pay dirt
15:38that we're actually generating.
15:40Down the drill.
15:41Of course the drill's kept in the thing.
15:46The shaker table is designed to separate fine gold
15:50from gold concentrate.
15:52So I've got this shaker table.
15:54It came with no manual, no nothing.
15:57So literally it's about trying to figure out
15:59how to put this thing together.
16:00Fuck down.
16:01It's possible with this hand.
16:03Everything I go to touch with this hand,
16:05it is agony.
16:08Absolutely agony.
16:10Richie's still nursing a broken hand
16:12after an accident with a drill.
16:16Ah.
16:19Richie, honey, pal.
16:20Oh, that hurt.
16:22So we all know my history with power tools.
16:30Come back at me.
16:32He's still in a lot of pain
16:34and needs help to get the shaker table sorted.
16:37Kimberly!
16:42Kimberly, it's a bloody mine site.
16:46Kimberly's new luxury walk-in wardrobe
16:49is a sight to behold.
16:51Mate, seriously,
16:53they're going to mock the shaker out of me about this.
16:55Well, this is my little space
16:57and I need my little sanctuary.
17:00So I guess I brought the Gold Coast life
17:02and fashion to the gold mines.
17:05Dan saw me doing this
17:06instead of helping him doing the stuff that's important.
17:09This is important, Richard.
17:11So this is me
17:11and I won't change.
17:13Better late than ugly.
17:19I'm not going to go against Dennis
17:21in his final plan
17:22because that will get me shot in the foot.
17:24I don't even get listened to.
17:26It's like not even here.
17:29At Swiss Diggins,
17:31Ronnie's feeling underappreciated
17:33and Donnie is unsympathetic.
17:36It's the end of the season.
17:37It's hot.
17:38The dust is getting to us
17:40and we're not on the gold
17:41and, you know,
17:43tempers are rising.
17:45Mate, can you do me a favour?
17:46I've asked you before.
17:48Can you not detect
17:49until I turn the machine off, please?
17:51I tell him,
17:53wait until I turn the machine off
17:54so that I can hear the targets too.
18:01Having Donnie and Ronnie over there
18:02working away at the moment,
18:03I'm hoping they're on good gold.
18:05It's pretty warm out there
18:07and Ronnie,
18:08he's suffering.
18:09He's not real good.
18:13They work reasonably well together
18:15but they fire.
18:17Both of them have got some fire
18:19in their bellies.
18:23Just slow down a little bit, mate.
18:25Too fast, too fast.
18:27Do you want to come down here
18:28and do this?
18:30Well, we shut the...
18:32Ah, well, I need you
18:33just to do it properly, mate, please.
18:36Yeah.
18:36Ronnie and Donnie's friendly sledging
18:38is escalating
18:39into a bitter war of words.
18:43200 metres away
18:44in the shallow, softer ground,
18:46Dennis' detector
18:47is doing the talking.
18:49Is there better?
18:52Yep, cheers.
18:54Nice little speci there.
18:56Probably four grams.
18:58Don't ask for better than that.
19:00Dennis is only a metre down.
19:02He's barely punched through the topsoil.
19:05It's good.
19:06It's still paying off.
19:06It's still coming out.
19:10Yay!
19:12That's nice.
19:15There it is.
19:19Yeah, that's a cracker, too.
19:22There we go.
19:22That's another three or four grams.
19:24I'd say maybe closer to five, actually.
19:26It's a pretty...
19:26It's a half-reasonable piece.
19:28In this area here,
19:29the nugs are good-sized nugs.
19:32It's certainly a lot better gold
19:34than what 1870's producing.
19:37Meanwhile,
19:38Donnie and Ronnie
19:39are at breaking point.
19:41Just make sure you get right up
19:43into that edge, Bron.
19:45Do you want to get off your...
19:46..ass and come down and do it?
19:48Oh, come.
19:49I'm not doing this, mate.
19:50Yeah, like, Dennis is over there
19:52where he is.
19:52He's on good gold.
19:54We're over here on Struggle Street
19:56and I've got to put up with this mouth.
19:57It's starting to take a toll.
19:59Ron!
20:00Ron!
20:02What?
20:02What did I say?
20:04Don't detect until I turn it off.
20:06Look, you f***ing...
20:08Oh, really?
20:09Yeah.
20:10Mate, just...
20:11..sit up there
20:13and...
20:14..keep your f***ing house, suss.
20:16Mate, take your f***ing detector,
20:18get the f*** out of the pit
20:20and f*** off.
20:28At Scratchy Moo,
20:30Matt and Damo
20:31have decided to test
20:32some new ground
20:33close to their mine.
20:35It does look like good ground.
20:37Yeah, this side
20:38looks pretty good too.
20:40They're waiting on replacement parts
20:42for their broken-down excavators.
20:45What the...
20:47What?
20:48This is such a person over there.
20:50Poachers, poachers.
20:51They just keep coming.
20:54Hey!
20:56Hey, what are you doing?
20:58They now have a new problem
21:00to worry about.
21:01They've stumbled across an intruder
21:03poaching on their land.
21:05What are you doing here?
21:06You're on our lease.
21:08You're on a lease.
21:08This is a lease.
21:10What are you doing here?
21:11Where's your phone?
21:12Looks all good.
21:13And next thing you know,
21:14there's this guy in the bush.
21:16Oh, I just couldn't believe it.
21:17Like, right in the middle of the lease.
21:18Where's the camera?
21:20Don't worry about the camera.
21:20Don't worry about the camera.
21:21The camera, you can't be here.
21:23How did you get here?
21:24I come from France.
21:26Yeah, I can see that.
21:27Yeah.
21:27People should not be
21:28in the middle of your lease.
21:29It doesn't matter who it is.
21:30So, it's not really a great thing.
21:33You.
21:33Is there anyone else here with you?
21:35Uh, yes.
21:37Lee.
21:38Lee!
21:39When Lee's name was dropped,
21:40it was like, okay,
21:41Lee's, one of Lee's tour groups
21:43who's managed to wander off,
21:44he's over here.
21:46Having pegged the new lease
21:48he bought off Matt and Damo,
21:50Lee's wasted no time
21:51getting his prospecting tour business
21:54up and running.
21:55It's pretty strong.
21:56The money he makes from it
21:58will help fund his mining venture.
22:00I get lost.
22:02You're not lost.
22:03You're on a lease.
22:04You shouldn't be here.
22:04I have some gold.
22:11That's not too bad, actually.
22:13Damn, wow.
22:14You know, at that point,
22:15we sort of just backed off a bit.
22:18All right, look,
22:19I'll tell you what we'll do.
22:20We'll just hit Lee up
22:21and I'll just hit that Lee.
22:22We'll just get the money out of Lee
22:23for the gold that he's found.
22:24You can sort this out, Lee.
22:26It's good gold.
22:27Good.
22:27It's good gold.
22:28Everything, all our gold's good gold.
22:29That's...
22:30Ah, yes.
22:30That's our gold,
22:31but we're going to let you keep it.
22:33Okay.
22:34You're going to have to get lost back over...
22:36You're going to walk back that way.
22:37Okay, this way.
22:38All right?
22:38It's worse when people are belligerent
22:40or they're doing it on purpose
22:42and this guy obviously wasn't, you know?
22:46He was just over,
22:47having a good time on a tour group.
22:49Okay, bye-bye.
22:50Merci, au revoir.
22:50All right, mate.
22:51Keep walking until you finally leave.
22:53We're going to get him on the radio.
22:55Keep going that way.
22:55Okay, no problem.
22:56Towards the sun.
22:57Okay, Australian GPS.
22:58Bye-bye.
22:59He's heading back through there now, so...
23:01Yeah, we better call Lee up.
23:02Lee McGrath.
23:03Lee McGrath, are you on channel?
23:05Lee McGrath, copy.
23:06Do you copy?
23:07Copy.
23:08You don't know.
23:10It is, mate.
23:11Have you got tabs on all your tour party?
23:14I've got one that's, um...
23:17Yeah, I can't find at the moment.
23:18He is at least a kilometre off where you...
23:21Where I think you guys should be
23:23and in the middle of our lease.
23:25Where is he now?
23:26Is he pointing back or is he coming and getting him?
23:28No, I pointed him in the direction
23:30and he should be most of the way back there by now.
23:33And he'd found some gold,
23:34so we're going to have to talk about that.
23:36Stay your hobby?
23:38No, we...
23:39Once we realised it was a tourist
23:41and he was with you,
23:42we'd let him keep it.
23:43Otherwise, you know,
23:44so they're not to ruin his experience,
23:46but you're going to pay us back, brother.
23:49Yeah, no worries with that.
23:50Thanks for doing that.
23:51No, that's bigger, yeah.
23:52Um, yeah, I'll sort you out of some colour.
23:54No worries.
23:56All right, cool.
23:59All right, let's go and get some...
24:00Oh, man.
24:03All right, next, eh?
24:06All right, next.
24:10At Swiss Diggings...
24:12Did you hear that?
24:13...Ronnie and Donnie's blow-up
24:14is reverberating right across the mine site.
24:17Is that Donnie?
24:18No, no, I'm not putting up with that.
24:21No way in the world.
24:23What's it?
24:23Not happening.
24:24What is it?
24:25Ah, they're arguing down there by the sound of it.
24:28They're going...
24:28They've got real loud voices going.
24:30Oh, these boys are on it, eh?
24:32So I had to go and try and sort it out.
24:35Oh, man.
24:37Don't eat the...
24:38Really don't.
24:40Dennis doesn't need a full-scale wall on his patch.
24:43If he's to have any chance
24:45of hitting his end-of-season target,
24:47he needs everyone to keep playing nicely
24:49for a bit longer.
24:53I don't want you here, man.
24:54You want to be a smart-ass?
24:55Ho, ho, ho, ho.
24:57Mate, take your detect...
24:59What's going on here?
25:01Oi.
25:02What are you arguing about?
25:03I can hear you's way up there.
25:05We end up having an out.
25:07I end up raising my voice
25:08and getting really cranky
25:10and next thing you know,
25:11I've got Dennis down.
25:13What's going on, boys?
25:15Well, tell him, Ron.
25:16Tell him how you don't like
25:17the mining plan that he's got.
25:19I don't...
25:20I don't mind mining
25:22from one end of the lease to the other,
25:25but we need to be following the gold too
25:27and then come back.
25:29It sort of pissed me off massively
25:31that I've got Ron,
25:33a hired help to Donnie,
25:35questioning my mining plan.
25:37We might just as well be mining
25:40bloody rock at the moment.
25:43Why don't we open a quarry?
25:46Ronnie, you can't do this, man.
25:48And I can't be playing.
25:50Seriously, the whole McMaster's
25:51just heard you two going off.
25:54Nup said I'm going to go home
25:57for the rest of the day.
25:59I'll end up saying something
26:01I shouldn't say.
26:03Come back with a better attitude
26:05when you come back.
26:05Oh, you shut up.
26:13You just hit pressure there and there.
26:17At 18.7,
26:19Richie and Kimberley
26:20are putting the finishing touches
26:21to their gold room.
26:23This should be the final piece of equipment
26:26to be put in place.
26:28So it's getting really exciting here now.
26:30We've got the wash plan up and going,
26:31the dry blower up and going,
26:32and Rich and I are just finishing off
26:34the shaker table.
26:35So we're starting to, yeah,
26:37see it all come together,
26:38which is really exciting.
26:39I know it's taken a long time
26:40and we're starting to get the gold
26:42and that's what we're here for.
26:44At the wash plan,
26:46Dan's just about ready
26:48for the clean-up
26:48from the first major dirt run.
26:51Rightio, guys,
26:52I think we give that concentrator
26:54a clean out, eh?
26:56450 tonnes of pay dirt
26:58has gone through the wash plan.
27:00The ripple trays
27:01should have caught the coarse gold
27:03and the finer material.
27:05The gold they've gambled
27:06their future on
27:07is hopefully
27:08in the concentrator.
27:09Just turn that one off
27:10at the key core.
27:13You know,
27:14I want to do a quick pan
27:16and see if it gives us
27:17a bit of an indication.
27:18I'm just hoping Richie's
27:19got that clean-up table sorted.
27:21Otherwise,
27:21all my hard work
27:23is near pointless.
27:25That's his baby.
27:26He wanted to take care of that.
27:27I'd take care of everything else.
27:30It's all on you, Richie.
27:32Dan will now flush some water
27:34through the concentrator
27:35to wash the gold-bearing dirt
27:37into a bucket.
27:38Is that just water
27:39coming out yet, bud?
27:40Still a rock?
27:40Still a bit of rock, yeah.
27:41Yep, OK.
27:42In this pan,
27:43if I could get, say,
27:450.2 of a gram,
27:46I'd be pretty happy.
27:47There we go.
27:49There's more than 0.2 of a gram
27:50in that.
27:5410 to 19?
27:5610 to 19.
27:59At Lee's lease,
28:00the French tourist
28:02has found his way back
28:03to the rest of the group.
28:04Well, we've just got
28:05everyone back in.
28:06We've got everyone back
28:07at long last.
28:09Time for Lee
28:10to lay down the law.
28:12We had someone
28:12wander off,
28:13which, yeah,
28:15got a little bit lost.
28:16Now, what's happened
28:18is he's pushed over
28:19onto another lease,
28:20which is an issue for me.
28:22We've got to know
28:23where we are at all times.
28:25The last thing Lee needs
28:27is a border wall
28:28with Matt and Damon,
28:29who's sold in the land
28:30in the first place.
28:32And that's just
28:33what'll happen
28:33if he doesn't stop
28:35the gold fever
28:36wandering in its tracks.
28:39If we start going
28:39on other people's leases,
28:41one, they're going
28:41to get with me
28:42and try and close me down.
28:44We're lucky
28:44that we know
28:46the guys next door,
28:47because if you wander
28:48onto another person's lease,
28:50they're generally not happy.
28:51So now we're going
28:52to make sure
28:53we buddy up with someone.
28:54So, Damien,
28:55you're going to go
28:55with Josh this time,
28:56so Josh will be with you,
28:58because we just
28:58can't afford you
28:59to get lost again.
29:00Why don't I have the sun?
29:02Just look at the sun.
29:03I know,
29:04the other bloke
29:04sent you back
29:05follow the sun
29:05because you would
29:06have come back to us.
29:07But don't anymore,
29:08just stay still.
29:09Well, I'll grab your key,
29:10let's go.
29:12He obviously
29:12hasn't understood
29:13when we were explaining
29:14the maps.
29:15It could have been
29:15a language barrier.
29:17We mustn't have seen
29:18the red trees
29:18and just kept walking.
29:20Lee charges $800
29:22for his prospecting tours.
29:24He stands to make
29:26$8,000
29:27from his three-day workshop
29:29if all goes to plan.
29:31He can't afford
29:32to upset his neighbours.
29:34How are we doing, guys?
29:35It's never a good call
29:36to take when,
29:37especially if you're
29:39running to us
29:39and you've got someone
29:41on someone else's lease.
29:43If Frenchy can pull it out,
29:44I can,
29:44I'll tell you that.
29:46Matt and Damien
29:47are shrewd opportunists.
29:49They're now targeting
29:50the same patch of dirt
29:52where the wayward
29:53French prospector
29:54found his version
29:55of El Dorado.
29:57There's a target there.
29:58Their three excavators
30:00are all out of action,
30:01so they're making
30:02the most of it
30:03by testing new ground.
30:06Oh, there he is.
30:08Look at that beauty.
30:09Probably three-quarters
30:10of a ground there.
30:13Oh, there we go.
30:14Yeah, I see a glint.
30:16We have gold.
30:18That's a good bit.
30:19Yeah, it'd be 0.5 or 0.6.
30:22There is gold here,
30:23but without machines
30:24to mine the ground
30:26on volume.
30:27Oh, there you go.
30:29Tiny a little bit.
30:30Probably a 0.1.
30:31Their winning season
30:32may take a nosedive.
30:35It's just not,
30:37it's just not enough.
30:43There you go.
30:44There's got to be about,
30:46there's over half a gram in that.
30:47Plus there's finer gold
30:49in there too.
30:50At 1870,
30:52a sample pan
30:53of the wash plant's
30:54gold concentrate
30:55from the first big dirt load
30:57is proof positive
30:58there's enough gold here
31:00to start the clean-up.
31:01Look at all the specs.
31:03I think we're sitting
31:03on the gold lawn.
31:09At the campsite,
31:11it's all hands on deck.
31:13The coarse gravels
31:15and larger-sized nuggets
31:16are removed.
31:17The finer material
31:18will go to the shaker table.
31:20I've got gold.
31:22You did.
31:22You got your first nugget.
31:24Caden?
31:24Yeah?
31:25That there
31:25is worth around about $600.
31:28That's gold.
31:29Look at that one.
31:32No fine gold in Claremont,
31:34but, eh?
31:34What's in the rest
31:35of these buckets, man?
31:37Well, we've got a lot
31:38of bloody buckets
31:39to process, mate.
31:41The next step
31:41is to extract
31:42the fine gold
31:43from the concentrate.
31:45And that's where
31:46the shaker table comes in.
31:48This shaker table
31:49is a game-changer
31:50because it gets
31:52all the fine gold
31:52that everyone else
31:53is missing.
31:54To compensate
31:55for his injury,
31:56Richie has devised
31:58a crafty plan
31:59to suck the gold up
32:01off the shaker table.
32:03Now, what I thought
32:05I'd do instead of
32:06trying to grab
32:07the gold off the table,
32:08I've created a wet
32:09and dry vacuum,
32:10chucked a hose on it.
32:11So, in theory,
32:13we'll just walk
32:13around with the hose
32:14and all the little
32:14bits of gold
32:15should get sucked in there
32:16and then we'll just
32:16clean out the gold
32:17at the end.
32:17That's my theory.
32:18Whether it works or not,
32:19I don't know.
32:20We'll find out.
32:22I'll fire up.
32:26Good to go.
32:29First scoop.
32:33So, I'm now
32:34$1.2 million
32:34in the red.
32:36This shaker table
32:37has to work.
32:43Now, I've got
32:44both of them
32:45against me.
32:46At Swiss Diggings,
32:48Ronnie's had enough
32:49and has bailed out.
32:51We can't go on like this,
32:51Donnie.
32:52You're going to have
32:53to cool it down, eh?
32:54I just, in the end,
32:55I just couldn't
32:55take it anymore, man.
32:57I think when he realised
32:58that I was trying
32:59to stick to the plan
33:00and it was Ron
33:01that was antagonising me,
33:02I think, given Ron
33:03a bit of time out,
33:04I think it was a good thing.
33:06She won an only chance.
33:07If it happens again,
33:08I'll be making the decision
33:10and I don't think
33:10Ronnie's going to like it.
33:12Oh, no,
33:12I won't like it either.
33:15Ronnie's been given
33:16his marching orders.
33:17Dennis and Donnie
33:18are now
33:19both working solo.
33:21The duo's
33:22100-ounce season target
33:24is looking
33:24like a pipe dream.
33:25I really think
33:27we're actually
33:27going to fall short
33:28on our target
33:30this year.
33:31Donnie's, like,
33:32massively sidetracked
33:33with other things
33:34going on.
33:35And Donnie
33:36still needs to come up
33:37with 18 grand
33:38to have any chance
33:40of taking ownership
33:41of his new lease,
33:431880.
33:44To have my own lease
33:45has been the end game
33:47since I started out here
33:49and this has just
33:50made it a reality
33:52and, you know,
33:53without Dennis
33:53and his help
33:54I wouldn't have been
33:55able to do this,
33:56I don't think.
33:57According to Ron,
33:58I'm going too deep
33:58into the rock.
34:00But the amount of times
34:01that I've found good nugs
34:04sitting down below
34:05the clays
34:05in the block rock.
34:11Oh, look at that.
34:15I was pretty close to it,
34:17so right on the edge.
34:25Come on.
34:28Oh, Ron should have
34:29stuck around.
34:30Oh, look at that.
34:31I can see it.
34:36We heard a fall.
34:38Have a go at that.
34:39That's got to be
34:40a four or five grammer.
34:43He should have stuck around
34:44a bit longer
34:45and shut his mouth.
34:51It's a ground noise.
34:56Beautiful.
34:57Oh.
34:59Have a go at that.
35:01That'd be good.
35:01I reckon that'd be
35:02five or six, that one.
35:03Look how long it is.
35:04Back to back nuggets.
35:06It's a good omen.
35:08Donnie's finally
35:09back on some good gold.
35:11Oh, beautiful.
35:12Big girlies here, man.
35:21Oh, I can see it.
35:22I can see it.
35:24Oh, have a look at that.
35:27That's got to be an ounce.
35:29Got to be an ounce.
35:31Oh, how good's that?
35:33I started pulling out
35:35the wrong wall.
35:36Where am I?
35:38Where am I?
35:39That's how quickly
35:40it can change.
35:42Ronnie pissed off
35:43about an hour ago
35:44and I've made
35:44about $6,000
35:45in an hour.
35:47It's pretty good.
35:49Easy.
35:50$6,000
35:51in that bottle.
35:52Easy.
35:53There you go.
35:53Go from
35:54zero to hero.
36:01I've got no idea
36:02where the gold's
36:03even going to come out.
36:04I don't know
36:04if it's going to come
36:04out of that end.
36:06At 1870,
36:07the first scoop
36:08of gold concentrate
36:09is trickling
36:10down the shaker table.
36:12All right,
36:12you've got to look
36:13out for little bits
36:13of gold coming down,
36:14all right?
36:16So Richard's,
36:17yeah,
36:17lost a lot of sleep
36:18trying to figure out
36:19how to get everything
36:20working with this
36:20shaker table.
36:22Obviously,
36:22in his head,
36:23he come up with
36:23all these designs as well,
36:25which Dan wasn't really,
36:26I don't think,
36:27I don't know,
36:28wasn't positive on
36:30if they were going
36:30to really work.
36:31Okay,
36:32in theory,
36:33gold's heavier
36:34than all this,
36:35right?
36:35So it should stay
36:37at the top
36:37and push its way down
36:38and all the rubbish
36:39should come down here.
36:41Oh,
36:41here's a bit.
36:42Our first bit of gold.
36:44Woo!
36:44Sorry,
36:45everyone's got to
36:45tip it off.
36:51So it's just a gold digger.
36:52Okay.
36:53The shaker table
36:54is like a giant gold pan.
36:57The shaky motion
36:58and water flow
36:59separates the high
37:00concentration of gold
37:02from the lighter
37:03waste materials.
37:04Oh,
37:04look at those
37:05really big ones.
37:06See how they,
37:07see how they float up higher?
37:08It's this one here
37:09and this one here.
37:10Oh,
37:10look at that.
37:11Think I need
37:12to increase the water flow.
37:13That was,
37:14it's about a hundred
37:15bucks worth of gold
37:15right there.
37:16That's a couple hundred
37:17buck nugget right there.
37:21Oh,
37:21heaps of pieces.
37:22Look at it all.
37:24There's heaps of gold
37:26getting caught up in here.
37:27It's really exciting.
37:29Like,
37:29literally,
37:30there was gold
37:31getting caught
37:32in corners of the machine
37:33and we're going,
37:34look,
37:34there's gold.
37:34There's gold everywhere.
37:36Like,
37:36little flakes of gold
37:37and little nuggets.
37:38It was awesome.
37:39I'm just trying
37:40to flush it out.
37:41I was just doing this
37:41and I could just see
37:42it coming out.
37:50Swiss diggings
37:51and it's show and tell
37:53time for Donnie.
37:54He's hoping
37:55to make it up
37:56to Dennis
37:56after his very noisy,
37:58ugly fallout
37:59with Ronnie.
38:00Well,
38:00I did all right,
38:01mate.
38:01Did you?
38:02There's a little bit
38:02more money in there
38:03than the rock quarry,
38:04I tell you.
38:04Really?
38:06Yeah,
38:06very nice,
38:07mate.
38:09Cool,
38:09eh?
38:10Mate,
38:10that's got to go
38:11nearly an hour.
38:11I reckon it's an
38:13ounce or over.
38:14Donnie's solo session
38:16helps bump their
38:17gold tally
38:17up to 80 ounces
38:19for the season.
38:20They're closing in
38:21fast on Team Scratchy
38:23Moo.
38:24Another good run
38:25of gold
38:25and they may just
38:26take out the top spot
38:28on the leaderboard.
38:29Good stuff,
38:30mate.
38:30Well done.
38:31Loving it.
38:31You doing all right,
38:32mate?
38:32You doing all right?
38:33Not just a rock quarry.
38:34Not just a rock quarry,
38:36mate.
38:38He's done an
38:39exceptional job.
38:40Hopefully showed him
38:41that he actually
38:41doesn't need another
38:42person helping him.
38:44But, you know,
38:45again,
38:45that will come down
38:46to him.
38:47Ah,
38:47Ronnie,
38:47you're right.
38:48He just needs
38:48a bit of a beer.
38:49He needs beer time,
38:50mate.
38:50Yeah,
38:51he needs a break,
38:52mate.
38:52Maybe he had
38:53too many last night.
38:54Struggling.
38:57So what,
38:58with the Frenchie,
38:59what happened there?
38:59He was in a fair way.
39:01At Scratchy Moo,
39:03Lee has dropped in
39:04to smooth things over
39:05with Matt and Damo.
39:07How much gold did he get?
39:09Yeah,
39:09how much did he get?
39:10Yeah,
39:10that's right.
39:11We need to add a gram
39:11into this.
39:12A gram,
39:13was it?
39:13Yeah,
39:13I'll bet he'll get you that.
39:15All right,
39:16we're going to have a look
39:16at how much we've got here.
39:17What do you reckon?
39:18So he's not very full.
39:20100.
39:2290 grams.
39:2390?
39:23You're being optimistic.
39:3071.55.
39:31Yeah,
39:32it's a bloody horrible week.
39:342.3 ounces
39:36is Matt and Damo's
39:37worst weigh-in
39:38for the season.
39:39Actually,
39:40I make it a little bit drained.
39:41It's just like,
39:41the breakdown's just,
39:43it's terrible.
39:45It's exactly what we don't need
39:46is a down week
39:47like this right now.
39:48I mean,
39:50yeah,
39:52it's just a total pest.
39:54It just kept coming.
39:55You just get a little bit
39:56of a start
39:56and then next thing
39:58it happened.
39:58The boys have had
39:59one of their worst weeks,
40:00like two and a half ounces
40:02or something.
40:02Terrible,
40:03terrible.
40:03And then the Frenchie
40:04walks on and just
40:05picks up their goal.
40:06So,
40:07yeah,
40:08it was a bit awkward
40:09with that as well
40:09knowing they had
40:10such a week.
40:11Two and a half ounces
40:12is like a diesel tank.
40:13That barely does anything
40:15for us for the week.
40:16Their dismal weigh-in
40:17takes their season tally
40:19to 86 ounces.
40:21They're still out in front,
40:22but unless they can get
40:24their machines
40:25back up and running,
40:26they may well get overtaken
40:28at the season's end
40:29finish line.
40:30It's more like a daily
40:31total rule.
40:32It's like,
40:32you know,
40:32it's not just the cost
40:33of the breakdowns
40:34and the fuel.
40:39At last,
40:40the 1870 team
40:42has something
40:43nothing to shout about.
40:44So,
40:44this is our first week.
40:46We've had
40:47stuff oil breakdowns.
40:48Kira,
40:49you've,
40:49looks like you've
40:50smashed it out
40:51this week
40:52with a dry blower.
40:53Dan,
40:54looks like you've
40:54watched beat you
40:55again at something else.
40:56Let's just see
40:57what we've got.
40:58Howdy, all.
40:59Wait up.
41:01This is something
41:02I never get sick of,
41:03though.
41:063.2.
41:07That's not bad
41:08considering we haven't
41:09got the table up
41:10and going properly.
41:11That's,
41:11that's good.
41:12We had a dry blower.
41:14Kira and Braden.
41:18Well,
41:19that looks a bit
41:19healthier.
41:20There you go.
41:216.4.
41:22That's like double
41:23what you did.
41:24Well done,
41:25Kira.
41:27Someone had to do it,
41:28you know.
41:28Alright,
41:29let's see what the
41:29total is.
41:38That's a good sign.
41:40Overload.
41:41You need to get
41:42bigger scales, mate.
41:44Let's get some
41:44bigger scales.
41:45Back up just in case.
41:48Alright,
41:48here we go.
41:49Richard's dog bowl.
41:50That's my dog bowl.
41:52Richard's drinking bowl.
41:53That Kimbo feeds me
41:54with each night.
41:56When he's a good boy.
41:57Zero it out.
41:58Zero it out.
42:029.6 ounces.
42:04Nice.
42:05Good work, guys.
42:07The 9.6 ounce
42:08gold haul
42:09has trounced
42:10the other teams
42:11for the week
42:11and propels
42:12Team 1870
42:13past the halfway
42:15mark of their
42:16100 ounce target.
42:18So if the
42:18wash plant
42:19and dry blow
42:19are gone,
42:20we're over
42:21the halfway mark.
42:22We've got
42:2255 ounces of gold.
42:24The only thing
42:25now that's going
42:25to slow things up
42:26or hold us up
42:27is if this
42:28shaker table
42:28can't perform.
42:29Clearly this has
42:30been our best week,
42:32right?
42:33But now we've
42:34got the shaker table
42:35sorted.
42:35Yep.
42:36We've got to do
42:37more than that
42:37each week moving
42:38forward for us
42:39to make our target.
42:41All right, let's do it.
42:42That's awesome.
42:42Well done, guys.
42:44Next time.
42:46My main concerns
42:47is Dan at the moment.
42:49Richie's mega
42:49investment idea
42:50to salvage
42:51their season.
42:52All I see
42:53is red flags there
42:54for any
42:55lot of stuff
42:55is in the past.
42:56But Kimberley's
42:57just not borrowing it.
42:59So multiple times
43:00now I've had to watch
43:01over the years
43:01that Richie's given
43:02away businesses
43:02or given partnerships
43:04away to try and
43:05help other people
43:06succeed and it
43:07has always failed.
43:09Oh!
43:11Now because it's
43:11just so hard.
43:14Matt and Damo
43:15cut a deal with
43:16Dennis to solve
43:17their hard rock
43:18mining headache.
43:19It doesn't take
43:20long for days to add
43:22up without gold
43:22to start putting
43:23pressure on.
43:24We really need
43:25this to fire up
43:26because the end
43:27of the season
43:28is coming
43:30in real fast
43:31now.
43:32Never once
43:33in my whole
43:33life did I
43:34ever say to you
43:35that you could
43:36have my f***ing
43:37logo.
43:38And Donnie and
43:39Lee come face
43:40to face.
43:41The sooner this
43:42gets put to bed
43:42the better.
43:43We can all get
43:44back to doing
43:44what we're supposed
43:45to be doing
43:45which is bloody
43:45mining for gold.
43:46In another
43:47epic showdown.
43:49I don't want to
43:50battle them.
43:50I'm over.
43:51Yeah, good.
43:51Get it off your
43:52f***ing.
43:52Get it off your
43:53website.
43:54Get it off your
43:54shirt.
43:55Get it off
43:56every f***ing thing.
43:57You're nothing
43:58but a f***ing thief.
43:59Will their dramas
44:00ever end?
44:02Donnie, Donnie,
44:03Donnie.
44:04This is pretty cool.
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