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Gold Rush Freddy Dodges Mine Rescue - Season 6 - Episode 06: It's a Hard-Rock Life
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00:03If we're not making money, we're losing everything within the next week or two.
00:08On this episode of Mine Rescue.
00:11My main load mine is about 2,500 yards up, but we're having issues with liberating all the gold out.
00:19A one-of-a-kind hard rock operation.
00:23Unfortunately, we're not running this right now.
00:26Is dead in the water.
00:28This is kind of what we were planning on working on.
00:31As the miner's future hangs in the balance.
00:36We're running a plaster operation down below.
00:39I'm about 90% sure that this is failing.
00:43Not one speck in that.
00:46I mean, I'm really concerned now.
00:49Yeah, me too.
00:53Freddy and Juan must think outside the box.
00:56I got well over 180 grand invested in this.
01:01We have nothing left.
01:03To get the gold.
01:08Well, let's see what it shoots.
01:10Oh, wow.
01:10Holy cow.
01:26You little roadrunner, Freddy.
01:33There's been a lot of history in this area.
01:36Gold built the state of California.
01:37That's why California is here.
01:39It's because of gold.
01:41You can see some old hard rock shafts on the mountains here, Juan, on the hills.
01:45Yeah, I've seen a couple of them already.
01:48Little outcroppings where they've done some works.
01:53This miner's a gentleman named Joe.
01:55He's a hard rock guy, and the way he talks, he's struggling pretty bad.
02:0375 miles east of the Pacific Coast in Southern California, the Runnels Mine sits within a diverse, mountainous desert region.
02:13From the 1870s, this area was renowned for its rich underground gold.
02:19The nearby Good Hope shaft produced over $310 million in today's money.
02:25And this same Good Hope vein runs through miner Jeff Runnels' small 20-acre claim.
02:32Jeff, how are you seeing you?
02:33Yeah.
02:34Ready?
02:34Nice to meet you, sir.
02:35Yeah, you too, sir.
02:36How you doing, Juan?
02:37So this your hard rock operation?
02:39This is the hard rock operation.
02:40My main load mine is about 2,500 yards up.
02:45But unfortunately, since I last spoke to you, things have changed dramatically.
02:49We're currently not running this right now.
02:52This is kind of what we were planning on working on.
02:55Are you not mining anymore, or what's going on?
02:57Well, I ran out of money for this up here.
02:59Okay.
03:00So we had to shift gears, another operation down below.
03:04And we're running a little bit of plaster.
03:06I was seeing gold, and it was quick and easy.
03:09So that's why we moved down there.
03:11Okay.
03:11Hard rock mining is very expensive.
03:13It is.
03:14It is.
03:15How much do you have invested in all your workings here and all your equipment?
03:19About $183,000 last year.
03:21Just last year?
03:22Just the last year.
03:23I'm broke.
03:24Like, literally broke.
03:25I have nothing left.
03:29We're grasping at straws right now.
03:30If we don't start making a profit in the next couple of weeks, this is all getting packed
03:34up and put in storage.
03:36I guess that changes a little bit, you know?
03:38Yeah.
03:38We came here thinking we're going to work on this plant.
03:40Are you getting decent recovery out of the plaster plant right now?
03:44No.
03:45We're not retaining the gold that I've been seeing in the samples.
03:49Do you have any gold we can see there?
03:51We do have a little bit of gold.
03:53So this is about the average size of the placer.
03:56That's big.
03:57It's pretty gold.
03:58That's for darn sure.
03:59Yeah, it's nice.
04:00Real wiry.
04:01So you're mainly wanting us to help you down there then.
04:04It's a placer gold, right?
04:05At this point, yeah.
04:06This is the focus because this is where we're going to gain the fastest capital.
04:10Well, you know, right now, I think you want to go down there and look at your placer
04:12plant that is running.
04:13Yeah.
04:13And then we can come up with a game plan of what we can do.
04:17I served in the Army from 95 until 06.
04:20After several tours overseas, I sustained multiple injuries, and then that ultimately
04:25led to spinal cord surgeries, and I was discharged.
04:31The gold prospecting was physical therapy to help me get out and walking around and, you
04:37know, moving to get everything back to somewhat normal.
04:41Over the years, gold fever set in, and Jeff decided to risk everything to pursue his dream
04:48of mining full time.
04:50We got the Calvary.
04:52All the kids, plus Roxy.
04:54Moving his partner, Roxy, and their seven kids to a house on a rented gold claim.
05:00We moved out here, and I started prospecting for hard rock.
05:04I've put my entire savings into this, and financially, it just strapped me.
05:11So I've got to make this work.
05:16This is Steve, one of my dad's real long-time surf buddies.
05:19He's my second man.
05:21I mean, he's my everything.
05:22How you doing, Steve?
05:23I'm Juan.
05:24Hey, Juan.
05:24How are you?
05:25Good to meet you.
05:25Nice to meet you, Steve.
05:26Nice to meet you, too.
05:27This is the plant, huh?
05:28Yeah, this is the wash plant.
05:30So what kind of gold, like on your last cleanup?
05:33The initial test that Steve and I did, it was showing really good gold.
05:37The last cleanup we did, it was the eight-hour run.
05:40That was 1.14 grams.
05:42For an eight-hour run.
05:43For an eight-hour run.
05:43Right.
05:45Okay, so we're losing gold somewhere.
05:47Yeah, that's not good.
05:48No.
05:48It could be material, too, though.
05:50Yeah, could be the material.
05:51Jeff's gamble is mining the gullies on his claim for placer gold, using a wash plant cobbled together from pieces
05:59he already had on site.
06:01So what we like to do is we want to do a four-hour test run.
06:04Okay.
06:05And Freddie and I, we're just going to stand back, watch your guys' process, and then we'll go from there.
06:10Awesome.
06:10Let's wash some gravel.
06:11Do it.
06:12Do it.
06:13Do it.
06:17Do it.
06:17Do it.
06:19Do it.
06:20Do it.
06:21We got here this morning, expected to be working on a hard rock, and, you know, he got thrown a
06:27curveball right off the bat.
06:29I understand where he's going with it, because he doesn't have the resources left to run the hard rock stuff.
06:36It costs a lot more money to run that.
06:37With his placer operation, probably every stream in California has potential to have some amount of gold in it.
06:43But that doesn't mean there's good enough gold everywhere to make money.
06:54First bucket launch.
06:58Hay dirt is tipped into a homemade hopper, where plastic pipe offcuts wash the material across a screen.
07:09Operator Steve uses an old plank of wood to shake the pay out into the sluices below.
07:21You know, I've been with Jeff since he got this place off a gunny.
07:26We've worked through thick and thin, from inside to out.
07:32Boy, it'd be devastating for this to go away.
07:35What are you doing, puppy?
07:37Hey, pup, pup.
07:38I came here to help him, and if we fail, then I'm kind of a failure.
07:44So, hopefully, Freddy and Juan can help get us through this dire situation.
07:52You know, just starting out, that hopper that he repurposed with that little grizzly on there, it's a bottleneck.
07:57They've only been running a few minutes, and it's already plugged up.
08:01There's already a laundry list of things that we can do.
08:05I'm going to take some test fans.
08:06Go to the pay file.
08:08I'm going to take a look at the sluice box.
08:10See you in a bit, buddy.
08:19I can actually feel down there, the riffle itself is above the mat, and it's allowing that material just to
08:24blow out of the riffle.
08:25So, half of that box is not doing anything.
08:29With Jeff and Steve earning so little from their last run, Freddy checks the quality of their pay dirt.
08:36We're just going to take a little from here and take handfuls from all over this pile for this next
08:42pan.
08:43That way you aren't getting all your material from the same spot.
08:49This ought to be fun.
09:08Not one speck in that.
09:10See, there's no gold in there.
09:14Nothing.
09:16So, that's a bad sign.
09:19What even makes this more disheartening is Jeff's on his last legs here.
09:25You know, without getting on to some gold and recovering it, you know, he's pretty much out of business.
09:32What you got there?
09:33Well, I pan in the pay pile that he's feeding through the plant, nothing.
09:37I even had my grandpa glasses on.
09:40Nothing even resembles gold in that one.
09:43Right now, he's just wasting money, Juan.
09:45Yeah, I think you shut him down, Fred.
09:46I think so, too.
09:48Honestly.
09:49Hey, Jeff.
09:50Yeah?
09:52We're at two hours right now.
09:54Let's shut it down.
09:55All right.
09:56The reason why, I've been panning all over the place.
09:59I haven't found one single color out of this material.
10:01Not one.
10:02Really?
10:03Not one.
10:05You're wasting money on gas, diesel, labor.
10:09Still think you need to clean this up?
10:11Yeah.
10:12Right?
10:12And have a look at it?
10:13Right.
10:14Because who knows, you may have had one bucket in there that had some gold in it.
10:18Right.
10:18Right?
10:20All right, well, we'll get this box cleaned up and see what it does.
10:26Thank you, sir.
10:27Sorry for being a bearer of bad news.
10:28Nah, it's all good.
10:29Thanks.
10:31Weighing the gold from the test run will give Freddy and Juan a larger-scale sample of Jeff's placer pay
10:38dirt.
10:39Well, it's been kind of a weird day.
10:41That's for dang sure.
10:43He's no longer running the hard rock operation.
10:46And come to find out that the placer mine may not be viable either.
10:52So, basically, right now, we're at this property's mercy.
10:55You know?
10:57I, that, that's really all I can say.
11:00Now I'm nervous.
11:02Um, yeah, now, now I'm pretty nervous.
11:08Either we're going to get gold, and we're going to succeed, or the next week that runs by, we've got
11:16to pack up and I've got to leave.
11:18And that'll be it for this.
11:38Okay.
11:38A pan and a bowl.
11:41All right.
11:41You want pancakes?
11:42Yeah, please.
11:43You want to do just plain, and then you guys can top it how you want?
11:45Yeah.
11:46All right.
11:47Ahead of minor Jeff's first Goldway, it's breakfast time in the Runnels household.
11:53The test run was horrible.
11:55Yeah.
11:55Like, worst I've ever seen.
11:58I'm just, I'm hoping that they can find a way to fix it, you know?
12:01Yeah.
12:03Roxy's my fiancée of five years now.
12:06Between the two of us, we have seven kids together, ranging from 19 down to six.
12:12You can use maple syrup instead.
12:14You can use maple syrup instead.
12:15She's absolutely my rock.
12:17She dove into this just head first and has been supporting me the entire time.
12:23I would describe Jeff as my best friend, first of all, and it's been his dream for a long
12:31time.
12:32Being able to build something that's ours and his, and that's something we can leave behind
12:38for the kids.
12:39And, um, it just means a lot.
12:42You want eggs, Ella?
12:44Yeah?
12:46You want a little plate?
12:48Financially, right now, we've sunk everything we have into this.
12:51Him, me, Steve, I mean, we're all in it.
12:55We're a team, and we're going to keep going because we don't quit.
13:04Certainly not.
13:11Sorry.
13:18It is a very real situation, a very, very real situation.
13:23If this doesn't work, then we're all back to square one.
13:42Morning.
13:43Good morning.
13:44How's it going?
13:45Morning, Jeff.
13:46With a looming deadline that could shut down his mining aspirations, Jeff braces for the
13:52Placer Goldway.
13:53You probably didn't sleep last night.
13:55No, not at all.
13:57It's your goal.
13:58Dump her in there and let's see what you got, sir.
14:00All right.
14:02Less than a gram, I can tell.
14:03Yeah.
14:05Doesn't look like much.
14:12Oof.
14:14Half a gram.
14:15For two hours.
14:19It's actually probably $20 worth of gold.
14:21It's with the black sand.
14:23Yep.
14:24If we're going to keep on running this, then you're just working to lose money.
14:27That's what you're doing.
14:28Big time.
14:29Right.
14:29The two-hour test run cost $150 in fuel, meaning running the wash plant has put Jeff $130 out
14:37of pocket.
14:38In a full day's run, the max he could make on the material he's running is $80.
14:45You know, either way, it's very unsustainable.
14:49You know that as well.
14:50Yeah.
14:50I got kids I got to feed.
14:52That don't do it.
14:54No.
14:54We're actually taking food out of their mouth to mine right now.
14:59Can't be doing that.
14:59You know, I think the biggest thing that we're going to have to do here is prospecting.
15:03There's only one way to find out if there's enough gold in there, and then let's get after
15:06it.
15:06Okay.
15:10It don't look good.
15:11It doesn't look good on me.
15:13It doesn't look good on Steve.
15:16Brady and Juan, they're our last hope.
15:19I mean, this is it.
15:22Well, right now, there's really no point for wanting myself to start a game plan or doing
15:26any fixes until we find out if there's gold left in the ground.
15:30We've got to prospect the rest of Jeff's land and see if we can't turn around the situation
15:33here.
15:39Just trying to read a few things here.
15:41Yeah, for sure.
15:44This doesn't look natural to me.
15:47I'm about 90% sure that this is tailings.
15:52I'm guessing 1800s.
15:55Tailings, old waste piles from previous placer mining, means Jeff's spring beds or draws have
16:03been almost entirely mined out.
16:05I mean, I'm really concerned now.
16:10Yeah, me too.
16:14You got some placer, but it's super low grade.
16:18Figured, well, $5 a yard on this, if we run 80 yards, and then we can make that difference
16:23up.
16:24Doesn't matter, though, because it's still not even close to being enough.
16:27You know, a little tough love, you're going to have to get the gold fever out of the equation
16:30because numbers are numbers.
16:33Jeff thinks that, you know, a few dollars' worth of gold per yard is going to get him
16:38by, which is wrong.
16:40You know, the price of fuel, the price of parts, so forth.
16:43You're still going broke, right?
16:46This is done.
16:48Dead in the water, huh?
16:49Yep.
16:51Basically, you know, the placer's gone.
16:54And what placer has left that he, like we ran in that first test, worthless.
17:00Need to get with Juan, put our heads together, and see where we go from here.
17:14Awesome.
17:15That looks good.
17:16That looks really good.
17:20What scares me is he thinks his money is with the placer, but the placer is completely
17:26worthless.
17:27We're kind of in a tight spot here.
17:29Yeah.
17:30We don't have so many days here.
17:33Well, why don't we prospect the hard rock as well?
17:36Because that's his dream, right?
17:39And if there's gold, you know, maybe we can figure a way to be able to do it and get
17:42the
17:42gold out without breaking the bank.
17:47I think that's a good idea one.
17:52I might call a friend of mine and bring him in.
17:55He's got some technology that might be very helpful.
17:57Okay.
17:58I'm going to run up to his hard rock mill.
18:00Let's really figure out what's there and see what we can do to make some improvements
18:04on it.
18:05Let's do it, buddy.
18:05Let's do it.
18:06You want to know something?
18:07Hmm.
18:07This is flipping hot for a gringo.
18:11A little rough, huh?
18:16Coming up.
18:19This whole mountain range produced for millions of dollars in gold.
18:23Let's see what it shoots, Dave.
18:26Oh, wow.
18:40How's it going, Dave?
18:41Hey, Fred.
18:41How you doing?
18:42On the Runnels' claim, in the shadow of California's legendary Good Hope Mine.
18:48Well, Jeff, this is Dave, a friend of mine.
18:50We've known each other for a couple decades now.
18:52Freddie's hard rock expert, Dave Emsley, arrives on site to prospect Jeff's underground
18:58shaft.
18:59Let's have a look at the vein structure up there.
19:01Yeah, let's see if we find it.
19:05Over at the hard rock mill site, Juan turns his attention to the state of Jeff's hard rock
19:11plant in a Hail Mary hope of making the Runnels' mine fully operational again.
19:18The cameras are way wore out.
19:21Working properly, rocks are fed into a hopper and then crushed using these steel hammers
19:27in a mill.
19:28So inside, we've got this rotating assembly that has the hammers hanging onto it.
19:32The centrifugal force pushes those hammers out and it starts breaking up that material
19:35until it can finally fall through the screen.
19:38But if you look at these, these are the old hammers.
19:41You can see how wore out they are.
19:42The material doesn't break up as quickly.
19:45We're going to have to do better than that.
19:53A few thousand feet up the mountain.
19:57Well, here it is, Dave.
20:00Oh, look at that.
20:02Nice.
20:02Dave holds the key to unlocking Jeff's hard rock gold.
20:06A state-of-the-art, $50,000 XRF gun.
20:11So this is an X-ray spectrometer.
20:13It's a radioactive emitting device.
20:14But we can take this machine, point at a rock, pull the trigger.
20:18It sends an X-ray out.
20:20And what reflects back will tell us what minerals are in the rock, what metals are in the rock.
20:24So, for example, if I shoot a watch, it shows me a percentage of gold, a percentage of silver, etc.,
20:33instantly.
20:34What normally takes 72 hours to do can be done inside of a minute.
20:40Lead the way, Jeff.
20:41The whole point by bringing Dave in is to pinpoint, you know, the hotter spots in that vein system up
20:47there.
20:48Fingers crossed that we find something that's worthwhile for Jeff in there.
20:52And we can save his home and his livelihood.
20:54But, you know, it's all a gamble.
21:04So, this is the main working area.
21:07The main ore body is on the left-hand side.
21:10Right.
21:11Stretches in.
21:12That's a decent-sized vein.
21:14Well, I think we ought to do a little bit of testing on it.
21:18Let's see what it shoots, Dave.
21:20What about this piece of...
21:30Nothing good on that one.
21:32How deep back does she go?
21:34Oh, probably 300 or 400 feet.
21:41The inherent problem with hard rock is it's never consistent in veins.
21:44You know, they pinch and they swell, and they get richer and they get poorer.
21:47So, you can go two feet, and it'll be completely different.
21:52Try the center of the vein there.
21:53Yeah.
22:03We're seeing some silver, copper, some nickel, lots of iron.
22:07When we get some of the base metals in there, that's a good sign there's going to be gold presence
22:11as well.
22:13So, that's showing about 30 grams a ton.
22:1530 grams a ton.
22:16Yeah, that's a good sign.
22:1830 grams translates to $3,200 a ton.
22:23A fully functioning hard rock operation could process around 40 tons a day, bringing in up to $640,000 per
22:32week.
22:33So, that's shooting about 40 grams a ton right now.
22:36The most accurate way is actually to take a pile of dust and see what we get on the dust.
22:43So, that's showing about four ounces a ton right now.
22:47This whole mountain range historically produced millions of dollars of gold.
22:52So, this vein complex is going to be offshoot to that.
22:55The trick is just getting it out of the ground.
22:57Right.
22:57It's a time-consuming and expensive process.
23:00It is.
23:00Blasting ore from the rock takes investment Jeff doesn't have.
23:05So, for now, the gold remains trapped in the mountain.
23:09There's an ore pile on the outside of the mine.
23:11Let's look at it.
23:14But Freddy's got one more place to test.
23:18This is all the recent stuff that I pulled out from the mine when we cleaned it out.
23:22Okay.
23:23Historical's all on the right.
23:25That looks historical.
23:25Okay.
23:26The waste tailings pile are unprocessed from the 1800s,
23:31when old-timers blasted, then dumped lower-grade ore.
23:36All right.
23:36Well, let's take a couple samples and see what we can get.
23:38It's going to be a mix of stuff.
23:41An old ore pile was too low-grade for the old-timers,
23:44but at today's gold prices,
23:46it may have enough gold in it to make it worthwhile.
23:51This is showing 19 grams.
23:54So, half an ounce.
23:56Oh, wow.
23:57So, that's good.
23:59With gold at $3,200 an ounce,
24:02this mixed-grade old-timers waste pile could be worth millions.
24:08You can literally just shovel it up right now,
24:11crush it, grind it, table it.
24:13And who knows, once you run this,
24:15it may bankroll you enough
24:17that you can get the rest of this stuff going.
24:20Awesome.
24:21If you don't want to find out,
24:22there are decent values.
24:24That's kind of a godsend,
24:25because even on a smaller scale,
24:27I think Jeff can get by.
24:28And he can also go a bit larger scale
24:31once he gets some money in his pocket.
24:32And now, you know,
24:33I need to go make a game plan with Juan,
24:36get our ducks in a row,
24:37and figure out exactly what we need to do here.
24:51How are you doing, Jeff?
24:52How's it going?
24:53With just 48 hours to get Jeff making enough gold
24:56to save his family home,
24:58Freddy and Juan pivot on an accelerated plan.
25:02We're going to turn this into a kind of a two-part thing.
25:04We know you can't afford to run your hard rock operation right now,
25:07so we're going to get a small hard rock plant going.
25:10We're going to put a sluice box under it,
25:12where you can actually start getting the ore,
25:13get some money together.
25:15Ultimately, hard rock mining is the big boy mining.
25:17You know, it takes a lot of money,
25:18a lot of equipment to be able to extract the gold.
25:21This little plant is going to get some money together,
25:23get you back up to the mill site.
25:25Awesome.
25:26Oh, wow.
25:26That's amazing.
25:29To set Jeff up on a ladder to success,
25:32Freddy and Juan will take on a two-stage build.
25:35First, they'll replace Jeff's placer plant
25:38with a small, low-cost hard rock plant
25:41made from Jeff's on-site pilot mill or crusher.
25:45A small sluice box will sit underneath,
25:49custom-built for lighter hard rock gold.
25:53Jeff can use this setup to work through the easy-to-reach old-timers ore
25:58and gather the capital he needs to fund his main hard rock push.
26:03Juan will then set him up for that future
26:06by swapping out the worn hammers on the main hard rock plant
26:10with custom-built brand-new ones
26:12that can easily break down the ore and free the gold.
26:17So, after hearing you have seven kids and then you're a vet,
26:21Freddy and I, we came to the agreement
26:22that we want to do this, you know, for you guys for free.
26:25Yeah, pro bono.
26:27I appreciate that.
26:28That, that beats a lot, man.
26:32Freddy and Juan, you know, they know my ultimate dream
26:34is going back to my hard rock mind
26:36and everything that they're doing
26:38is going to put us towards that goal.
26:40So, I'm excited to pull that whole ore pile down and run it.
26:44It's going to be a huge game-changer.
26:46You know, we started with plan A
26:48and then we went to plan B
26:50and now we're on plan F.
26:53Time to get rolling.
27:13Got it.
27:14In the race to save miner Jeff Runnell's home
27:18and mining dream...
27:20We're going to bag this stuff up here, okay?
27:23His partner, Steve, has enlisted local reinforcements
27:27to help move the old-timers' ore down the mountain.
27:32The old-timers left a lot behind,
27:35so hopefully we should be able to generate enough funds
27:39to get the other plant up and running.
27:42All right, we're ready.
27:44All right, Steve, here it comes.
27:56Down below...
27:57Let's go measure that real quick.
28:00It's a full-team effort
28:01to create the small hard rock plant
28:03that can process the old-timers' ore.
28:06So what I was thinking here, Jeff, is we pull this off...
28:11Okay.
28:11...this dry chute, right?
28:14Then our sluice box is going to go underneath.
28:17Jeff's repurposed mini-pilot mill
28:20will crush the rocks to powder,
28:22releasing the gold,
28:24which will fall into Juan's brand-new sluice box below.
28:31We're welding the top rail for the sluice box.
28:35You can't run before you walk.
28:37Ultimately, this little plant
28:38allows Jeff to be able to get his finances together,
28:42save his home,
28:42and eventually get back up on the mill site.
28:47It looks good, Juan.
28:49Thank you, Freddy.
28:50All welded out,
28:52it's now Freddy's job
28:54to fit out the small plant sluice for hard rock.
28:58I'm going to put this as a baffle plate here,
29:01like this,
29:03so that water's going to hit it.
29:05Okay.
29:06That'll spread that for us.
29:08If we were to just shoot it in...
29:10It would just go straight out the end.
29:12Right, blow it out.
29:14Golden hard rock is lighter
29:16and notoriously hard to catch
29:18by slowing and spreading the water flow.
29:21The baffle plate will encourage the fine gold
29:24to drop into the box.
29:27That'll get her.
29:28Having these guys out here right now,
29:30just the labor and the cost alone
29:32was way out of our budget.
29:33They even remotely come up with anything of the sort.
29:37And the fact that they're doing it pro bono,
29:39it's just a godsend.
29:40The small hard rock plant
29:42should generate some income in the short term,
29:45but in the cut trailer,
29:47Juan looks to Jeff's long-term future.
29:50The hammers that Jeff has
29:52are completely wore out,
29:53so we're going to build him a set.
29:56Juan will lay the groundwork
29:58on Jeff's main hard rock plant
30:00by replacing the worn-down hammers
30:02with brand new ones
30:03that can crush the hard rock ore
30:06and release the gold.
30:07Right now, it's just a chunk of steel,
30:09but once we weld the arm onto it
30:11and drill the hole,
30:12it's going to be a hammer
30:13for the hammer mill.
30:16Part of what Freddie and I do
30:17is give people the tools for their future,
30:20and that's what we're doing.
30:21You know, we're getting his little plant set up
30:22so we can test,
30:23but ultimately, we're giving him the tools
30:25that he needs to get his big plant running
30:26and create a future for himself and his family.
30:32This is a jig.
30:33We'll put the hammer and then the arm,
30:35and then we can drill it
30:36and weld it all in one.
30:37We'll have one jig to be able to build them all
30:39so they're all uniform.
30:40And so that way, in the future,
30:41Jeff can build his own hammers as well.
30:44A jig acts like a 3-D template
30:47for each of the 16 hammers,
30:49giving Jeff a way to replace his own in the future
30:52and saving him thousands of dollars.
31:01There you go.
31:05On the test sluice build,
31:07Jeff is on carpet duty.
31:09Freddie gave me a really good tip,
31:10and that was to cinch all the edges.
31:13If you look right here,
31:14when you cut it, it gets real loose.
31:17And what happens over time
31:18is it starts peeling apart and unraveling.
31:21So what I did was I singed it
31:24around all four edges
31:25so that way it'll last a lot longer.
31:31Well, we're going to get our wedge system in here,
31:34our lockdown system for these ripples.
31:36Fingers crossed, everything comes together,
31:38and we get back on track
31:39and we start making money.
31:41So that's what it's all about.
31:49Well, here's the test sluice,
31:51so it's all ready to go.
31:53Water system's hooked up.
31:55It's all welded out.
31:57Beneath the baffle plate,
31:59Freddie's placed three different size riffle systems
32:02to maximize the chance to catch
32:04the smaller, lighter, hard rock gold.
32:07It changes the speed of the water and the velocity,
32:10and that also helps, you know,
32:12drop a little more gold out,
32:14that really fine gold.
32:16Beautiful.
32:17Yeah, this is gorgeous.
32:20Let's get it over there, get it set.
32:22Okay.
32:28Out of work!
32:29So right now what we're doing
32:30is we're putting the test mill in place,
32:34put the sluice under it,
32:35and then we'll get that all kind of dialed in,
32:39and we should be ready to go tomorrow morning
32:43to fire it up.
32:48Come down a little more, Jeff.
32:51Perfect.
32:59Come down hard.
33:01There we go.
33:03Perfect.
33:05Absolutely perfect.
33:08Ahead of tomorrow's test,
33:10Juan's pulled in a last-minute favor
33:12to supercharge the small hard rock plant.
33:16I see a big boy toy.
33:17I'm excited.
33:20This 2,900 PSI MB Crusher bucket
33:24can pulverize up to seven tons of rock an hour,
33:28making quick work of Jeff's newly stockpiled old-timers ore.
33:33I figure the smaller we can get it now,
33:35the more of it you can run through your little plant.
33:38Yeah, it'll go through a lot easier.
33:49Pre-crushing will not only make Jeff's small hard rock plant run faster,
33:54it'll also leave him a stockpile of crushed material
33:57when Freddy and Juan have gone.
34:00You know, Jeff's kind of in a tight spot here,
34:02so Freddy and I are really doing all we can
34:03to try to leave him in a good position
34:06to hopefully get ahead.
34:13So tomorrow, we're going to fire up
34:15the smaller hard rock plant.
34:18After you have a horrible test run the first time,
34:20I mean, obviously,
34:21there's going to be some nervousness now.
34:23So I'm confident in the ore,
34:25but there's always that nervousness.
34:27Well, that's the last bucket,
34:29and all we got to do is run it now.
34:48It's the critical final day of the Runnels' rescue.
34:53Yeah.
34:54From that, and that's a new one.
34:58Before running the final test,
35:00Juan installs the hammers
35:02on Jeff's main hard rock plant.
35:05Jeff doesn't have the money
35:06to be able to run that plant right now,
35:08but he's got what he needs as far as the parts.
35:11So when he can afford to actually get up here,
35:13he can start going after that underground gold.
35:16So considering everything you've been through
35:17with hard rock mining,
35:18obviously, you have a love for it.
35:20Yeah, yeah.
35:21I mean,
35:23I was taught growing up that you just work.
35:25You just push through it and do it
35:28and never ask for help, ever.
35:30And so when I finally reached out
35:33to have you guys come out,
35:35it was a humbling experience for me.
35:36Sometimes, you know,
35:37regardless of how stubborn and proud we are,
35:39you know, sometimes we do need help.
35:41Hopefully we were able to get that little plant going,
35:43get you a little bit of gold coming in.
35:45It's kind of a catalyst to get this going.
35:47Oh, absolutely.
35:50There it is.
35:50What do you think?
35:51Will you fire up the generator and try it out?
35:53Yeah.
35:53Yeah, let's fire it on.
35:54All right.
35:54Cool.
36:12Look at that.
36:15That's really good.
36:17That's doing a really good job
36:18of crushing that material.
36:20Yeah.
36:21It's amazing what a new set of hammers will do.
36:23Yeah.
36:24Well, cool, man.
36:25Well, let's get back down there, huh?
36:26Awesome.
36:26Thank you, man.
36:27Appreciate it.
36:28You're welcome.
36:36Fire it up?
36:37Yeah, let's fire it up.
36:38Let's do it.
36:46At the base of the mountain, the final two-hour test run on the old-timer's ore pile begins.
36:52First locket, here we go.
36:55Let's see what that door carries.
36:58Jeff feeds the pre-crushed ore into the pilot mill crusher, where two rollers grind it further
37:05into a fine dust.
37:07This then falls into Freddy's customized sluice, where the lighter gold should drop out into
37:15the riffles.
37:20It's pretty much going to make or break us, so it's pretty important that we get gold.
37:27Hey, Juan, how's the water look?
37:29That's good.
37:30That's good.
37:34Small scale right now.
37:35Jeff needs to run that smaller plant, make some gold, get out of the hole that he's in.
37:39It'll work good for him.
37:42There's a little bit of gold right there.
37:45Right there.
37:47Yeah, let's keep going.
37:52There's been a lot thrown at us this week, but we're getting it done.
38:02Let's pick up the last bucket.
38:03Last bucket, Jeff.
38:05All right.
38:15Fingers crossed, eh, Juan-O?
38:16I hope so, Freddy.
38:24I'm curious, huh, Juan?
38:25Yeah, I'm a little nervous, though.
38:27Yeah, me too.
38:28Well, you got the gold?
38:29I do.
38:31Let's weigh it up.
38:37Don't let it blow away.
38:38Yeah, all right.
38:462.7 grams.
38:49That's not terrible.
38:50No?
38:51What do you got there?
38:52You think we ran two yards?
38:53Yeah, I was right about there.
38:54It's about five times what we got the first one.
38:57A little over five times.
38:58Yeah.
38:59Mm-hmm.
38:59At this rate, Jeff and Steve can make around 1.5 ounces of gold a week with the test plant,
39:07worth $5,000.
39:10You know, in reality, you know, that adds up.
39:13It adds up.
39:13Yeah, absolutely.
39:15Sure, it's not a high production plant, but it's putting out gold.
39:18Absolutely.
39:20$5,000 a week?
39:21That's going to save our house, you know.
39:23It's going to save me financially.
39:25In the short term, if you live lean and mean and save your money, throw that money into your production
39:32plant up there.
39:32Once Jeff can get his main plant up and running, it can process 56 tons per day, giving him an
39:39earning potential of over $33,000 a week,
39:43a number that will rise exponentially once he can blast the higher-grade vein from the underground shaft.
39:50Well, we better get on the road, gentlemen.
39:52It was great working with you.
39:53Yeah.
39:53Here's your gold.
39:54Thank you, sir.
39:55Now it's time to just generate that capital, get that big plant, and start cranking.
40:01With everything that Freddie and Juan did for us, the dream's going to continue, and we're going to push through.
40:06We're going to make it.
40:08Take care, guys.
40:09You too.
40:10I'll follow you up, buddy.
40:11Let's hit the road, buddy.
40:11Got her.
40:13Jeff was right on the verge of shutting down, I mean, within days or weeks.
40:17And what we've done here is we've given him the skills and tools for the future.
40:23So now he can provide for his family.
40:25So we can ride out of here with our head sight.
40:35Hey, Juan and Freddy.
40:36This is Jeff out here in Paris, California.
40:39We're finally starting to turn a corner right now.
40:42We're still in the house.
40:43We brought some of the equipment over.
40:44Juan, the jig he made for us was essential.
40:48Everything's running pretty good.
40:50Hammers are doing their hammers.
40:52It's allowing us to make our own hammers.
40:54We are using the sluice.
40:57We found a high-grade vein that is putting out about two ounces or more a ton.
41:03I mean, this vein that we hit is probably the biggest strike that this property's ever seen in, like, 100
41:10years.
41:1150- to 60-pound sample.
41:13We're going to crush it up right now.
41:16So the potential's great.
41:17Now we just got to get it all out of there.
41:19The plan now, once we build up capital, is to bring my bigger hard rock equipment down.
41:25If we can run the volume, we should be doing well over 80 grand a month.
41:33Want it, Freddy?
41:34It's much appreciated.
41:35It's much appreciated.
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