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Gold Rush Freddy Dodges Mine Rescue - Season 6 - Episode 03: Firestorm Fortunes
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00:03oh i'm emotionally drained as of right now i'm screwed on this episode of mine rescue get up
00:12here a desperate gold miner finds his dreams of riches slipping away we got 0.2 of an ounce
00:20it's unsustainable to keep going at that rate as his greenhorn family in reality i have no
00:26idea what i'm doing struggles to mine while he juggles two jobs to survive jira does shift work
00:34to help fund this so that we can stay out here it's a lot of stress for him
00:41and the clock is ticking for freddie and juan the forest fire ripped through here and destroyed
00:46everything in its path we don't work on hot days because of the risks of fire but that is costing
00:51us money as one of the worst wildfire seasons on record threatened to shut them down
00:58we don't get anything back i don't know what we're gonna do zero
01:05i'm hopeful that freddie and juan can help us
01:16i may go check with the fire department to see what the fire restrictions are
01:19over the past couple years i guess there's been a massive amount of fires in this area
01:25see you a little later then see you in a bit
01:28in the dense caribou mountain forests of british columbia freddie and juan receive a desperate
01:34sos from the wildfire ravaged gainert family mine a location that will soon prove to be one
01:43of their most challenging to date
01:51i'm going to meet with cheryl ray and jamie from the sounds of it they've been having a little bit
01:56of a struggle out here they have sunk every last dollar that they have into this operation so
02:01really it's kind of sink or swim
02:04how are you doing you must be jamie hi i am
02:07juan nice to meet you juan nice to meet you juan hi rey nice to meet you right i'm juan
02:11i'm cheryl
02:12cheryl how are you guys doing oh good better now
02:16yeah better now that you're on site so freddie's not here right now he's uh just a couple hours
02:20behind me he went to go check with the fire chief to make sure we're okay to do the work
02:24we got to do
02:24here right so is this the whole crew ah my husband jared is missing in action he had to go
02:30back to
02:30work okay in alberta so that we could be out here to mine um but he will be back tomorrow
02:38inspired by what they saw on gold rush the gainerts began their mining venture 10 years ago
02:45jared and i took our kids out camping and we did some prospecting we were hooked
02:50over the next few years they ran a series of small operations as we've gotten more into it and we
02:58got
02:58more equipment we're trying to have a serious go at it but in 2024 an opportunity arose at a larger
03:07claim when wildfires drove out the previous miners it was just so devastating to them that that they
03:13weren't able to come back we had heard the old timers were getting about an ounce per 20 yards
03:20but the gold never materialized since we've been out here we've seen roughly 0.2 of an ounce
03:28it's not really adding up to pay the bills jared and his stepfather ray have been forced to take
03:35second jobs leaving the mining to his inexperienced family i get six days off and i'll spend two days of
03:43that six driving and then i get to spend four days on the claim mining and then rinse repeat
03:50ultimately our goal would be to have everybody in the family out here full time but uh with jared
03:56and ray having to work this season the rest of us have to step up and be more hands-on
04:01with helping
04:01out at the mine in reality i have no idea what i'm doing i'm i'm i'm just trying my best
04:08do you have
04:09any of the gold that came out of this area i do i have some gold that we found okay
04:13well it's pretty
04:15chunky stuff yeah there's some fines in there do you guys have a goal for what you want to be
04:19able
04:19to produce here uh yeah if if we could get half an ounce a day if even 50 ounces if
04:26we could get this
04:26season to recover some costs well the reality is you're running out of time to go out there and hit
04:30your target i want to do a four-hour test run let's get some material through it and see what
04:35we got
04:35great all right let's do it
04:42carrie i assume freddie i appreciate your time this morning okay well it's super high risk if you
04:48take a look at the forest like you can look at any of the areas around our forest is like
04:52standing
04:52firewood right the 2025 wildfire season is already canada's second worst on record with nearly 1300
05:02fires having scorched british columbia alone 40 of wildfires in bc are caused by human error so one
05:12mistake can risk lives and livelihoods in an instant are there any fire restrictions right now not right
05:20now but when you guys are out if you're grinding welding just know the risks yeah water is your best
05:26friend get the trees limbed up as high as you can reach 10 feet or higher because if a fire
05:30does come
05:31through it just stays on the ground and it just rages through well thank you for your time thanks
05:35so much for coming by
05:38okay well let's do it back on the gainert mine the first two-hour test run begins
05:55first bucket ray loads pay dirt into the four-foot hopper that feeds a 10-foot trommel which washes pay
06:07into an 18-foot sluice box below where the gold should be recovered we can't continue running like
06:14this it's costing us more money um than than what we're getting in return
06:31everything just plugged up solid all the material stuck in there that's not good
06:39they have to go in there
06:45the material gets stuck in the hopper so they're having to sit up there and wash it all down manually
06:50so it's not a very efficient way to run the stakes at the gainert mine are shared by the entire
06:57family
06:57so we don't know if it's running well or running terrible or what we need to make it better
07:04Jared's parents Ray and Cheryl invested $100,000 of their own money into the operation
07:11well we sold our house in Alberta came out here we spent that money put it all into the mine
07:16and really haven't got anything out of it yet we're old enough to retire now but we can't retire
07:21we've got a mortgage now every weekend I get in the summertime I'm back here the rest of the time
07:27I'm
07:27at my other job driving trucks this is going to be our last chance out here our last kick at
07:33the cat
07:42let's take a look inside the drop
07:50there's not enough water pressure to be able to wash the pay down into the trommel
07:53because there's actually holes in the spray bar where it's pushing water out the side
08:04that's loose it's way too violent has way too much water
08:20I'm gonna do a little tanning I just want to check the material that they're bringing to the plant
08:24you know honestly it doesn't look that special to me but I just want to take a look see what's
08:29in there
08:33not even a piece of gold not even one speck
08:36I'm worried that the material that he's pulling out isn't really pay
08:49what are you doing
08:52what are you doing
09:13shut down on you yeah why don't we just go ahead and call it it's been about an hour
09:17yeah we could shut it out
09:21I think we shut it down right now we'll regroup and figure out what we can do
09:30let's pull it out
09:33right now I am feeling a little bit disappointed
09:35yeah you bet
09:38our test didn't go as smooth as we had hoped but I'm still hopeful
09:43I have to go to my full-time job
09:45I won't be back here for five days and I'm hoping that this could possibly be my full-time job
09:52but right now you have to pay the bills
09:55minors in general are kind of hopeful and you know gambling type but sometimes we need to give them tough
10:01love
10:01coming into a mine site where everything has an issue it's frustrating
10:05there were safety issues the pay doesn't look great and honestly the plant's not running good either
10:13coming up two or three part-time jobs to pay for your gold mining it's unsustainable
10:18I'm going all in it's now or never that was a road let's see what lived right here
10:26holy moly
10:38later that afternoon at the gay nerds caribou mine
10:42we'll see what's going on let's go check it out
10:45Freddie arrives for the cleanup
10:47hello ladies
10:48hello
10:49the mine crew is now down to Jamie and mother-in-law Cheryl
10:54this is Freddie Freddie Cheryl
10:56hi
10:56how's it going there
10:58great to meet you
10:59hi nice to meet you
11:00Jamie yes we're sure glad you're here
11:02how's the cleanup going going good I'm done
11:05well let's get it weighed up
11:08well here we go Freddie
11:09yeah moment of truth
11:11the gay nerds need at least 0.06 ounces from the test run to hit their half ounce per day
11:19goal
11:190.02
11:24less than a third of what they need per day
11:28that's pretty sad
11:30it's it's sad
11:31maybe it's lucky you broke at one hour because every hour you're running you're throwing money away
11:36yeah right and we don't want that
11:37well what we want to do is we're going to go back put our heads together and come up with
11:41a plan for you guys
11:42thanks Freddie and Juan
11:43you're welcome
11:45I'm a little worried now after seeing the amount of gold it's unsustainable to keep going at that rate
11:50you know you'd have to get two or three part-time jobs to pay for your gold mining
11:54it's not good to see that it's costing us more money to get that gold out of the ground than
11:59the pay
12:00so I don't have a gold mine budget anymore it's gone
12:07so what's the deal with the bucket being in the hopper
12:10the machine broke down
12:12so we weren't able to finish the test run
12:15driving in here it looked like there's a lot of equipment that might not run
12:18I don't think any of it runs Freddie
12:19so one of the things I'm really worried about
12:21we got to get a machine coming out here because we have to do prospecting
12:24because the material they brought to the plant was absolute garbage
12:27the hopper is another issue and it should be feeding itself instead of
12:31someone up there babysitting it and the sluice is completely inadequate it's too
12:35narrow it needs to be a foot wider how'd the spray bar do Juan?
12:38not good Freddie there's actually holes in the spray bar where it's actually pushing
12:42water out the side of the the trommel there's safety issues that I want to
12:45address like the stairs going up yeah okay really all this is for naught unless we
12:49can find some material that's worth running
12:51exactly right that'll be my first goal
12:52all right
12:55to transform the mine into a profitable operation a three-inch water jet will be
13:02mounted at the back of the hopper to break up the pay and drive it into the
13:07trommel then inside the drum a new spray bar will be added to the existing thread
13:14to wash gold bearing material into the sluice and finally the sluice box will be
13:20widened an extra 12 inches to boost capacity by 50 percent
13:39after a 600-mile drive from the oil fields Jamie's husband Jared returns to the mine
13:47more than baby hi baby I missed you I missed you how's it going um it's it's not looking good
13:59I hope
14:01taking help.
14:02I got into gold mining 10 or 11 years ago just because it
14:07looked really cool watching Gold Rush.
14:09We went out to this old fella's claim on the Fraser River.
14:13First, we had a pan and we panned it and my eyes lit up.
14:17Oh, man, look at that.
14:18That's when gold fever sunk in.
14:20It's a real thing, but mining is amazingly expensive
14:24and things are pretty tight.
14:26I can't continue pouring money in every year.
14:30It's now or never.
14:33How are we doing?
14:33How's it going, Doug?
14:34Hi, guys.
14:35Good.
14:36I'm Juan.
14:36Jared.
14:37Nice to meet you, Jared.
14:37Freddie.
14:38Freddie, nice to meet you, Freddie.
14:38Nice to meet you, Jared.
14:40Well, we put our heads together.
14:41You know, we came up with a few ideas for the plant.
14:43One of the first things that we want to do is focus on that hopper.
14:46We're going to put a jet in the back so that material can get fed
14:49down into the trommel.
14:50Inside the trommel itself, put a whole new spray bar in there.
14:53Then we want to build a new sluice box.
14:55OK.
14:56The intention is we're going to actually run a little more material
14:58when we have that spray bar in the back of the hopper.
15:00And in order to do so, we've got to have that wider box.
15:03OK.
15:03Yeah.
15:04And I need to go prospect on this.
15:06Because everything I see here is tailings.
15:08Yeah.
15:10So we're thinking $5,000 in materials.
15:13But the excavators that you have here, none of them are up to par.
15:17We found somebody that had an excavator that we could borrow
15:19for a few days.
15:20OK.
15:20But we have to pay for transport.
15:22And that'll be about $3,000.
15:24OK.
15:24So all in, it's going to be $8,000.
15:29That's a lot of money, I know.
15:35I think we can do that.
15:37Well, deal then.
15:38Deal.
15:38Let's do it.
15:39I appreciate it, guys.
15:40Yeah, no worries.
15:41Thanks, Freddie.
15:41You're welcome.
15:42You're very welcome.
15:43Thanks, Juan.
15:43You're very welcome.
15:44Thanks, Freddie.
15:45It was pretty awesome meeting Freddie and Juan.
15:47I was giddy like a schoolgirl.
15:50$8,000 is a pretty big hit.
15:52But I don't see I have much of a choice to do it.
15:55If I want to continue, I have to do this.
16:04I wonder if we can figure out why the ignition stopped working.
16:09Awesome.
16:10To help get the mine on track.
16:12Am I pulling on it?
16:13Yeah.
16:14That's the one you're pulling on.
16:15Jared's called in his mechanic brother, Sandy,
16:18to work on their stricken excavator.
16:21I'm going to be here on the mine,
16:22helping Jared get some of these machines running as best I can.
16:25Pull that at wire again.
16:27With all the time and money that Jared's put into this,
16:30I would just really love to see it succeed.
16:33I think that goes to the starter.
16:35OK.
16:36Go turn the key.
16:38OK.
16:38Ready?
16:52Hey, thank you guys.
16:53Next, Juan spots a fault with one of the other excavators.
16:59Your pen on your cylinder for your bucket's actually ready to come out.
17:03So the pin itself has this little plate that holds the pin in place.
17:06It's broke off.
17:07So we can knock that pin back where it needs to be and get it on.
17:15It's extremely important that this excavator works correctly.
17:19Without it, there's no mining.
17:21So it's got to be tough for you to work a full week in the oil field
17:25and come out here and work at the mine site, huh?
17:27Yeah.
17:28All that travel, all that time.
17:292,000 kilometers a week and then trying to forget about the stresses out here
17:37so I can focus on my job at work.
17:39And Jamie, you know, the first day that we did a test run,
17:41it was kind of cool to see her that she actually just jumped right in there
17:44and wanted to be a part of it.
17:45Yeah.
17:45We had up to 300 head of goats at one time.
17:48That's a lot of work.
17:49And she'd be in there wrestling goats with me,
17:51holding them down so we can give them injections.
17:53And, yeah, Jamie's always been one to give her.
17:57Yeah.
17:57Once she knows how to do it, she's going to give it 100%.
17:59And she'll probably really excel at it too, I'm sure.
18:02You know, at the end of the day, you know,
18:03if you can enjoy your time with your family.
18:06And I think a lot of people would kind of strive to try to do that one day, right?
18:08You're that close to doing it, you know?
18:10Yeah, we are.
18:11You're that close.
18:12Well, let's finish this up, huh?
18:14Yeah, sounds good to me.
18:15Let me try to open this up just a little more.
18:24Popped right in.
18:25There's some good news.
18:26That's good.
18:28Thanks, Juan.
18:35So hose on and then pass you the hose?
18:38Yeah.
18:38Excavator's fixed.
18:39Juan begins work on the wash plant's new water chute.
18:43I cut a hole right here.
18:44We're going to put that jet on the back of the hopper.
18:46And we'll put a diverter plate.
18:48So it was going to wash all that material down into the trommel.
18:54Go towards you a little bit.
18:57Toward us.
18:57Come out a bit.
18:58Yeah.
18:59Right there.
19:09So I got the jet all done.
19:10I got the deflector plate on there.
19:12So now when that material piles up, this will push it all into the trommel.
19:15It's going to actually increase their production by a lot because now they'll be able to feed
19:19it instead of having to be up here and washing it down by hand.
19:21This will do it all.
19:23Oh, cool.
19:25We got the job done.
19:26But the reality is Freddie and I still have a lot to do here.
19:41Well, you want to show me where you got that pave that ran on the first test there?
19:45Yeah.
19:45It's just up here.
19:47In British Columbia, Freddie starts his gold sleuthing at the mine's old cut.
19:52So they mined right in here last year?
19:54Yeah.
19:54I was told they were getting good sized nuggets out of it.
19:57So I thought, well, that sounds good.
20:00But there just wasn't enough.
20:01We got .02, not enough to pay anything.
20:05Something was weird about that.
20:07Yeah.
20:09Don't trust what they've told you unless you really know the people.
20:12Trust what your own eyes tell you.
20:14Okay.
20:15But I can see what you were chasing there.
20:17That red stuff.
20:18Yeah.
20:18A lot of times those surface red layers are red because they are the surface gravel
20:23gravel and they got oxygen to them, which allows iron to rust, right?
20:28So usually your surface gravels don't carry much gold.
20:31Okay.
20:32The rest of it's tailings.
20:33That's been stacked up there by somebody that was in here before.
20:38In 1858, discoveries on the Fraser River ignited the Caribou Gold Rush.
20:44Strikes at nearby Williams Creek and Barkerville made fortunes with over 3.8 million ounces,
20:51worth over $12 billion in today's money.
20:56Old timers say the claim Jared is working produced more than 1,800 ounces of gold in the 90s, valued
21:03today at over $6 million.
21:07One way to tell you're in tailings is there's no rhyme or reason to the rocks.
21:11Virgin material that got laid in there by water, all your flat rocks are laying flat for the most part.
21:18In tailings, everything's just haphazard, you know, how it was dumped.
21:22It's never been reworked by water.
21:24So that's one of the quickest ways to tell.
21:26Let's go look for some virgin ground, huh?
21:29All right.
21:35What I think we need to do is find a little bit of elevated ground and look down and see
21:40what we can see.
21:41This is all tailings.
21:43This is all tailings on this side, too.
21:49Let's have a look from this high point.
21:52Well, this isn't a great feeling.
21:54Thought I had something down here.
22:09Well, you can see that gravel face over there.
22:12Yeah.
22:13Well, to me, that looks like glacial till.
22:15Glacial till is the debris left behind by a glacier.
22:20Thousands of years ago, millions of tons of ice bulldozed its way through the valley, crushing rocks into fragments and
22:28freeing the gold inside.
22:30As the glacier melted back, the gold was left scattered throughout the ground.
22:36A hypothesis that that hillside right there, you know, it's not really structured with the main hill.
22:42Mm-hmm.
22:43There's a chance that's a glacial moraine.
22:45A moraine is where the glacial till has become piled up to form a ridge where gold is more likely
22:52to be concentrated.
22:53You can see right down below us here, and you've got the road there.
22:56It could be good.
22:58Who knows?
22:58There's only one way to find out, though.
23:00Freddie's hunch?
23:01An old-timer's road, which cuts through the glacial moraine outcrop, could hold virgin pay.
23:08At one time, there was a lot of gold here, but they gutted this valley.
23:12Maybe there's some pockets of virgin ground onto the road that nobody took the gold out of.
23:16Hopefully, we can do a little bit of potholing and try to figure things out.
23:30Make sure we're not right on the edge.
23:32In the mine's boneyard, Juan and Jamie construct the new 18-foot sluice,
23:37which will help them recover more gold.
23:40Kind of push to where you want it, more or less.
23:43Oh, okay.
23:43Then you push in, twist to the right, let go of it, and it locks.
23:47Want to try this one real quick?
23:48The magnets grip the steel like a clamp, keeping it square at 90 degrees.
23:53Is mining something that you really enjoy or that you really want to do?
23:57Yeah, it is.
23:57And when my kids can come out, that's even better.
24:00Wyatt is just about 21, and Morgan is almost 19.
24:04Doesn't seem like you're old enough to have kids that age, so...
24:07Well, there is a story.
24:10I had Wyatt when I was 20, and then on my 21st birthday, I was diagnosed with relapsing,
24:15remitting, multiple sclerosis, and I was told if I wanted to have more kids,
24:19I needed to do it because the medication I was about to start could cause complications during my pregnancy.
24:26Yeah, you kind of picked priorities, you wanted to have kids, so you went for it.
24:29Yeah.
24:30I get that.
24:31I would have never known that she had health issues with her motivation and her work ethic,
24:35but, you know, it just shows that she really has the drive and she's committed to doing this mine.
24:39We should probably get back to work then, huh?
24:41Yeah.
24:42All right.
24:50I came here to look at this spot.
24:52We can stay to the side there and at least get a trench in here and see what it looks
24:55like.
24:56Okay.
24:57On the other side of the claim, Freddie locates a spot to test under an old mining room for Virgin
25:04Pay.
25:04Maybe they didn't touch it, so let's see what lives right here.
25:07Okay.
25:09Hey, Juan, you got a copy?
25:11Go ahead, Freddie.
25:12I see that excavator showed up.
25:14Yeah, 10-4, do you want me to bring it on down to you?
25:17Yeah, if you wouldn't mind.
25:23With the Gaynert's unreliable excavators, Freddie and Juan truck one in that can dig to almost 30 feet.
25:33What do you think, buddy?
25:35Sweet machine.
25:36Thanks for bringing it down.
25:37Yeah.
25:38This is a huge machine.
25:39That's awesome.
25:41See if I'm tall enough to get in this guy.
25:52My hope here is this was their road when they dug these pits beside us.
25:57This was the only spot I could see that we could have a look at in the time period we're
26:02here.
26:10Well, let's try that level.
26:12Okay.
26:29Zero.
26:30Lot of color in it.
26:34It's disappointing.
26:36Yeah.
26:37Really disappointing.
26:53I just had a chat with Freddie.
26:56There might not be ground there, basically.
27:18What I want to do is get some material from down deeper in here and then have a look at
27:23it from a greater depth.
27:25At the Gaynert mine, Freddie rolls the dice on one last option, finding gold at bedrock.
27:33Well, this is definitely virgin material.
27:36I just don't know how much of it's here.
27:43We're down to bedrock here.
27:44Yep.
27:45We took those pans about five to six feet, right?
27:47But now we're down 12 feet or so.
27:49Okay.
27:50So let's, I got some in the bucket there.
27:52Let's pan it and see what's in it.
27:56When I pan, I like to take, you know, not just the same spot.
28:00Yeah.
28:00I'll pick around through that material so we get a little bit more scientific test.
28:19Holy moly.
28:22That's stuff dreams are made of right there.
28:25I'm absolutely amazed that Freddie was able to find something in here.
28:29I'm hopeful there's a few thousand yards of material there.
28:32This is incredible.
28:34Well, that is what I wanted to see.
28:36We'll run a second test and see what's in it.
28:46How you doing, guys?
28:47Good. How are you guys?
28:48Doing good.
28:48Doing good.
28:49With 24 hours left before the second test, Juan enlists Jared and brother Sandy to help with the next fix.
28:56If you guys could help Freddie and I, we need to get that spray bar out of the trommel.
28:59See if we can break it loose here on this end to get it unthreaded.
29:02You good with that?
29:03Yep. Awesome.
29:04Thanks, guys.
29:08So the problem with the old spray bar, it was actually pushing water outside of the trommel and it really
29:13wasn't cleaning the material properly.
29:15With this new one, it's going to allow us to be able to concentrate that water where it needs to
29:18be and get that material washed.
29:23And stick that in there and...
29:28Nope.
29:39We're putting these pipe nipples on so we can reduce the water flow so we have a nice even flow
29:43across the whole bar to get a good wash.
29:46And I'm using the end of the old spray bar so that way we know that we have the right
29:49thread pitch to be able to screw it back onto the plant and we know it's going to fit.
29:56This is an awesome new spray bar.
29:58Wand it excellent.
29:59You going to start throwing her in?
30:00Yeah, I think so.
30:02Oh, okay.
30:03This is heavy.
30:05Mine's light.
30:06I got the heavy side for sure.
30:07Yeah, I'm sure.
30:09Okay, let's set it down.
30:12We're going to see if this side's heavier.
30:15This side's way easier.
30:16It's the same.
30:25Oh, look at that.
30:26It's tight.
30:27It's like we're professionals or something.
30:35Hi, Freddie.
30:36How's it going?
30:37Going good.
30:38Right now you got a little bit of a safety issue here.
30:41Yes, yes.
30:41There's no stair treads in the frameworks on them.
30:43Yeah.
30:44So I was repurposing your old ripples.
30:47We'll tack them in.
30:49Why don't you try that?
30:50You're going to start it.
30:52Click.
30:52And then go.
30:54About an eighth of an inch and then you stack your dimes.
30:56Okay?
30:58We stack one.
30:59We stack two.
31:00Stacking dimes means making each weld smooth and round, just like coins in a stack.
31:07We'll just stack nine dimes.
31:08Nine.
31:09Okay, this is the last weld right there.
31:13Stack those dimes.
31:15Get a little closer.
31:16There you go.
31:18You got it.
31:19Did I?
31:20Yeah.
31:21Thanks, Freddie.
31:21You're welcome.
31:22I feel pretty good.
31:24Freddie said I did okay.
31:25I think this skill is really important to have out here.
31:28If Jared and Ray are gone and we need something welded, then I can do it.
31:41We're making a wider sluice box to give them more area for that gold to fall out so we can
31:46spread that material out wider.
31:48It's going to be a lot more efficient sluice box than the one they have.
31:51With hours remaining on the final day of fixes and the critical sluice unfinished, the Gaynards get a welcome surprise.
32:00Ray's taken the afternoon off to lend a hand.
32:04Ray is incredibly hard working.
32:06He is gone most of the days during the week, but he tries to make up for the week he
32:10wasn't here.
32:11He just goes and goes and goes and goes.
32:13How's it going, guys?
32:14Good.
32:15We're here to help.
32:17You guys want to cut some ripples?
32:18We do.
32:19Yep.
32:20So our sluice is 35 and a half.
32:30Right now I'm just getting this fairly close to the pitch we'll have it in the sluice box.
32:37That way when I weld the ears on for these jacks, I can get them straight up and down.
32:44The jacks will make the sluice adjustable for the type of pay they are running.
32:49Well, all finished.
32:50Looking good.
32:51Let's get her up to the plant.
32:58Right now it's all hands on deck.
33:00We've got to get this thing in, get this test run done, and head on to the next mine.
33:07So I'll ripple this up.
33:08Okay.
33:09So we're going to put it in like shingles.
33:11Sluice builds complete.
33:13Freddie gives a quick tutorial to mechanic brother Sandy on how to configure it.
33:18So now we take our miner's moss.
33:20We don't overlap this stuff.
33:27Okay, now grab one of our heavy ripples.
33:30So we'll go right up to the top with that one.
33:40Done.
33:48You can start walking that end this way.
33:50We good?
33:51Still all right.
33:53Last task before the test run, the sluice installation.
33:58Oh, we're going under that?
33:59Yeah.
33:59Okay.
34:00Oh, we're golden.
34:02We've learned a ton since Freddie and Juan showed up here.
34:06Words can't express the gratitude I have for those guys right now.
34:12What do you say?
34:12Let's start a test run.
34:14All right.
34:14Let's watch them rock, guys.
34:15Let's see this run.
34:19Overall, the fixes were great.
34:21And we know we've got virgin material here.
34:23We'll just run a second test and see what happens.
34:41What do you think, guys?
34:42Looks like we're ready to run.
34:43So why don't we do a two-hour test run on one?
34:45Yeah.
34:46I'm excited to see how she runs now.
34:47In British Columbia.
34:49All right.
34:50Let's do it.
34:51It's the moment of truth at the Gaynert Family Mine.
34:55There's a lot at stake here for us with everything.
34:58So I'm hoping with the improvements, the sluice and the spray bar,
35:01that we should improve.
35:03And I'm really excited to see what's in the box after we run.
35:15Good.
35:16Well, let's make some goals.
35:19First bucket.
35:29So far, everything looks great.
35:32Already, it's more material than we were running the first go-around, huh?
35:35Awesome.
35:36Awesome.
35:36Now we're not having to stay up there, close it all down.
35:39That's washing itself down.
35:42I think this test run is going pretty good so far.
35:45These fixes are awesome.
35:48Above and beyond what I could have ever expected.
35:50But we've all learned a ton with Freddie and Juan here.
35:54Tomorrow's Goldway will determine whether or not we stay here.
36:03Sluice is running pretty decent.
36:05Yeah, it's not bad.
36:06By adding this extra wide sluice box, it allows us to run more material.
36:25When you put material into the plant, it's got to go somewhere, right?
36:29We don't want it building up where it's coming up the sluice box.
36:33So you've got to take care of it.
36:36Sandy's going to get that crackle here where he can take care of the tailing.
36:49Now start turning.
36:56There you go.
37:05Last pocket, Jared.
37:07Yeah, sounds good.
37:21Get my granny glasses on.
37:24Yep, she's got gold in her.
37:26There's definitely some mustard in this box.
37:28Hey, Jamie.
37:29Come have a look, dude.
37:30Lots of fine stuff.
37:31Get in there.
37:32Oh, yeah.
37:34There.
37:34A little bit bigger here.
37:36Nice work, Mr. Dodge.
37:39I think this has significantly improved.
37:41That's the biggest piece I see, but all through here is gold.
37:44So yeah, get her cleaned up and we'll meet you in the morning.
37:46All right, see you guys in the morning.
37:47Thanks, guys.
37:48Yep, awesome.
37:50I'm thrilled to see a light at the end of the tunnel.
37:54I'm more excited than I can express with words.
38:05How's it going, guys?
38:06Good.
38:06How are you doing today?
38:07Good.
38:07Did you get her all cleaned up?
38:09Yep.
38:10This is what we ended up with.
38:11Better than what we had in the first.
38:13I guess we'll see.
38:16All the rumor is and the testings have shown that this might be the ground that we've needed all this
38:21time.
38:22I think we've got good ground now.
38:24I think we're going to do well.
38:26During our first test run, it was a .02.
38:28That was for a one-hour run.
38:29Yeah.
38:30So on the final test run, we did two hours, we would have gotten .04.
38:34Yeah.
38:34Which is still only $100 worth of gold for two hours.
38:37Your goal right now is about half an ounce daily, right?
38:40Yep.
38:40Let's see what we got out of two hours.
38:42Yeah.
38:50.33, third of an ounce.
38:53Almost three times what they need to hit their daily goal.
38:57That's really great, guys.
38:59That's awesome.
39:00That's a massive increase.
39:00You know, and the great thing is that now you're actually on decent ground that's actually virgin.
39:04Yeah.
39:04Instead of going through the tailings that we were doing in the beginning.
39:07Yeah.
39:07Yeah.
39:07I mean, with the plant running the way it is, we're able to run a lot more material.
39:11But you've got to keep prospecting because that whole mine's tailings piles, right?
39:15Yeah.
39:16Yeah.
39:16Who knows what's under them.
39:17I'll be able to recognize those tailings a little better now.
39:20Yeah.
39:21You actually have a real possibility of making this work.
39:23Yeah.
39:24We can work with this.
39:25You kind of mentioned to me earlier that eventually this is something that you want to do as a family,
39:29right?
39:29Yeah.
39:30Well, with gold like that, that's no longer a dream.
39:32You know, that actually could be your reality.
39:34Yeah.
39:35That's amazing.
39:36I think if we can keep this up, I won't have to be in panic anymore.
39:39Oh, you still will be.
39:41Yeah, absolutely.
39:42Yeah.
39:42Mechanic at a gold mine.
39:45There's lots of gold in this area, so look around.
39:47Don't run tailings.
39:49Well, thank you very much.
39:50Thanks a lot, you guys.
39:51You're very welcome.
39:53It was amazing to ride around with Fred and learn some stuff.
39:56They're leaving me with hope for my future.
39:58So I'm chomping at the bit to get out there and get the rest of that pile run.
40:02Well, you guys take care.
40:03We've got to hit the road.
40:04Bye.
40:04Good travels, guys.
40:06My confidence has skyrocketed.
40:08I'm able to do things that I wasn't able to do before, so I'm really grateful for that.
40:12Jared really wants us to be kind of a family mind.
40:15Now he has that option.
40:17I really enjoyed working with this family.
40:19They stepped up.
40:20I taught Jared how to spot the difference between tailings and virgin ground.
40:25That's a biggie, because if you run tailings, you go broke.
40:28You know, the sky's the limit for them now.
40:38Hey, Freddie Juan.
40:39Thank you for this season and everything that you guys bought us.
40:44We ran the rest of that virgin material from under the road the next day.
40:48We ended up with just about an ounce from it.
40:52But I'll be honest, we're not going to go back to the same claim.
40:55With the amount of tailings, it was such a big risk to go after it.
41:01Now Ray and I actually bought our own claims.
41:04That's something like 600 acres of our own now.
41:07And with the knowledge I got from Freddie, I'm confident I'll be able to go out there and prospect that.
41:13This season really gave me a taste of stepping up and the things that I learned from Freddie,
41:21like learning how to weld, stacking dimes, I'll never forget that.
41:25I'm going to get her to weld up the exhaust on the excavator.
41:28Anything that breaks if I need any welding done.
41:30The future's looking good. Confidence is high.
41:33We're not giving up. Thank you again.
41:35Yeah, thanks guys.
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