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00:07This thing's gonna be faster.
00:09Be very impatient, me old mate.
00:12Alright.
00:13We'll push it a bit faster.
00:16Well, I better hope I get there.
00:18I've got deals that are gonna be done.
00:20And I've eaten.
00:22Here we go. We're almost out.
00:34Shane O.
00:34There you go, I'm Rusty.
00:36I'm going well.
00:37I'll cut to the chase, Rusty.
00:38This is my last season.
00:40How are you gonna give up gold? I've heard that before.
00:42There's no way you can give that up.
00:43This is absolutely the final roll of the dice.
00:46I'm 70 odd years of age.
00:48So for Shaney boy, it's finishing.
00:50But I need your help.
00:52I've got all these tenements that I've accumulated over 45 years.
00:56And I want to get rid of these tenements.
00:57Gold's over $5,000 an ounce.
01:00I've got to get up there, prove the tenements up, and get my money.
01:03Shane, I've got my own gold to find.
01:05You know I've got leases as well.
01:07I'll be doing it with you or without you, Russell.
01:09Even if I've got a crawl on me stomach to get there, Russell.
01:12If you go by yourself now, you'll end up dead.
01:14I'm going.
01:15It's my final hurrah!
01:24The first tenements up at Nalagine.
01:26I've got a buyer ready to go.
01:29All I've got to do is prove it up.
01:30I'll catch you up there, brother.
01:31I'll drive.
01:32It's only 18 hours for me.
01:34There, Rusty!
01:37Bloody Shane.
01:51A new season again.
01:53I can't believe I'm doing it sometimes, but you've got to help out a mate.
01:56And that's what I'm going to do.
01:57Shane's got some mulled leases out here.
01:59He wants to sell.
01:59And we're heading out to a lease about 20k's out from Fantasy, which is the lease I own.
02:03So, I know the area, but I've never been to there.
02:06Russell Nash has driven more than 1,300 kilometres to the arid landscape of Western Australia's
02:13Pilbara region.
02:15This time, to help lifelong mate Shane Caligari prove up his desperado lease.
02:21The thing about selling a lease is you need to prove that lease before you can sell it.
02:25So, that's why I'm going to come up here, give Shane a hand to what sort of gold we can
02:28find.
02:28I mean, the buyer's very interested, and he's got some areas he'd like us to work.
02:32So, we'll see if we can find some gold.
02:34And the more gold we find, the better price it's going to get for Shane.
02:37Here's his car.
02:39Alright, we're in the right spot.
02:41Shane out!
02:48If he's going to go that fast, he might as well get out and walk.
02:50Come on! Hurry up!
02:54I never thought I'd see the day.
02:56How you going, Rusty?
02:57I mean, more of a hurry than what you are.
02:59I've never done anything too quick in my life.
03:01You should know that.
03:03So, how far from here?
03:04Well, it's just up there, Russell.
03:06And I believe it's about a 400 square metre area or something like that.
03:09And the new buyer?
03:10The new buyer.
03:11Well, that'll be pending on whether we can find some gold here.
03:14Yep.
03:15He wants five ounces, which is doable, but we'll have to push hard.
03:19I'll just go find some gold and prove it for him.
03:21Yeah, Rusty.
03:23Put that one on.
03:24Righty-o.
03:25Well, I'll jump on the front and drive.
03:27No.
03:28That's not how it works around here.
03:29Now, come on, Rusty.
03:30I can drive.
03:31You're going to the back, mate.
03:32We want to get there today, not tomorrow.
03:34Just hang on.
03:35That's all you've got to do.
03:41What a place this is.
03:44Look at the quartz hair, Russell.
03:46This hair, to me, looks probably the best part of the tenement I could be on.
03:49And I've been here nearly eight years, so I should know.
03:53Okay, Rusty, let's get into it.
04:00Gold has never been off the lips of my family.
04:03Right back to my grandfather and great-grandfather.
04:05You know, you get gold fever.
04:07I've had it when I was in my early thirties.
04:10I've had my journey.
04:11I need to leave my grandchildren and my children a little bit better financially off.
04:17It makes up for a little bit of guilt that I've had in my life for not being there when
04:20my kids were there.
04:21I wasn't there for the Father Day days.
04:24I wasn't there at the Easter's.
04:26I only ever got home on Christmas before Christmas.
04:29So, it really hasn't been good enough.
04:31It's great to have Russell come here to help me get the five ounces I need to be able to
04:36get this sale over the line.
04:39He's been with me I don't know how long.
04:41Well done, Russell.
04:42Good job.
04:43Plumbing first off, because that's what we are.
04:46We are both plumbers.
04:47And later on, when I introduced him to prospecting, he followed me all the way through this.
04:52That's a bloody good year.
04:53Well, me goal this year is to get around 25 ounces of gold.
04:57That's what I'd like to do.
04:58And also quit some of my tenement.
05:00I've got this buyer.
05:01People are only going to be interested if they can get a quit out of it.
05:04So, if I find five ounces, I'll sell it for around 20-odd thousand.
05:10We just have to confirm that this is where we want to dig.
05:12I mean, I don't want to dig in the middle of nowhere.
05:14So, we'll find a few nuggets, confirm that there's gold-bearing ore here,
05:18and then we'll bring the excavator over to get the gold out of the dirt.
05:20I mean, look how much you lose with spinifex.
05:22You lose that 100 millilitre depth straight away.
05:24I can't detect that on top of the spinifex.
05:26There could be a lump of gold under that, and you'd never hear it.
05:28So, we've got to remove it, and it'll grow back.
05:30And the spinifex is as tough as nails.
05:33It feels like nails when it's going through your skin.
05:40Gee, that's a great sound.
05:41It's on the top.
05:43This could be my first run of the season.
05:46Jesus, this is a good, heavy, promising material here.
05:52There it is, a piece of gold. Look at that.
05:55It's a good gram, and it's probably got a value of about 300 bucks.
05:58It's a really rugged piece of gold.
06:02That means there's plenty more around here, because it hasn't travelled.
06:06If it's travelled, it'll be smooth.
06:08And this is exactly what the buyer will want too.
06:10A concentrated area of gold.
06:12Hey, Russell!
06:14Yeah?
06:15I found a piece!
06:17I'm coming!
06:19Shano's found a piece.
06:21This could be the patch.
06:22Let's have a look.
06:23There it is there, Rusty!
06:27Have a look at that.
06:28Just here, eh?
06:29Right there.
06:29Right there, Russell.
06:30How about we just get a machine?
06:32Open this up.
06:33Take the top off.
06:34Make it happen, Russell.
06:35Move some dirt and make some money.
06:44Just gonna move this lower.
06:46We've been at this lease now for quite a while, and we've had some really good results, but
06:50the ground is slowly starting to peter off a little bit.
06:53So, I've got a bit of a new spot down here that I'm hoping the fine gold's flowed downhill
06:58a little bit.
06:59Former midwife, Cheryl Munro.
07:01Then I'll guide you in, Simon.
07:02And ex-butcher, Simon Laws.
07:04Come back at that.
07:05Have reinvested over $200,000 of last season's profits into expanding their mining operation
07:12deep in the remote goldfields of Western Australia.
07:19Alright, Simon, that's it already.
07:26You know where your hopper's filled?
07:31Yeah, I can see it's completely filled.
07:33Oh, the hopper's still got dirt in it, so it's too heavy to fill.
07:36It's got about four tonne of dirt in there, so I've buried the axle, which always happens
07:40when we're loading the machine, so I'll just dig a bit of that out.
07:44It'll come out a bit easier.
07:48This year, we've brought a second dry blower, two extra loaders to keep up with the dirt.
07:53We've also, up the anti-massively, we've put on four full-time staff.
07:57Now that we've got the extra staff, we're trying to work on two ounces a day.
08:01So we've got a lot more pressure.
08:02We've got to keep payable dirt in front of us all the time.
08:05We'll be paying wages and keeping the machines running.
08:08Got a copy, Sam?
08:10Yeah, mate.
08:10Got to push up some dirt and push the track.
08:12Yeah, yeah, no worries, mate.
08:13I'm a carpenter by trade.
08:15Not very good at it.
08:17A couple of me mates were mucking around doing a bit of detecting and got me hooked.
08:21Now I'm stuffed for life.
08:23Last year, we did really well.
08:25We actually made more than what we thought we were going to make, but it's mainly hard
08:30work and determination.
08:32I'm originally from Scotland, been in Australia for 19 years.
08:36It was very scary when I first started, because I hadn't even driven a trailer.
08:41First-time miners Cheryl and Simon...
08:44Choking too much dust.
08:45...were tested by a brutal debut season.
08:48My friends and family in Scotland see me now.
08:51I think it's something ever nice to be doing this.
08:54That's amazing, isn't it?
08:55It means we can build on next year, maybe a second blower, another machine.
08:59So this year we've made ourselves fully mobile so we can do a lot of tribute work.
09:03So basically I'll work someone else's lease, do all the work, all the expense, all the rehabilitation
09:09and they've received 20% of the gold that we find.
09:13So they can be sitting home on the couch watching the footy and earning really good money
09:18if we're finding really good gold.
09:20It's not like my gold's leaving.
09:22That'll always be there waiting for us.
09:24It's a little bit like our safety guard.
09:26To stay afloat, the team rely on two $80,000 dry blowers.
09:32As paydirt is fed into a hopper, a mesh grate filters out larger rocks,
09:38allowing finer material to drop into riffle trays below.
09:43Air and vibration blow away lighter waste,
09:47leaving heavier material to be further processed through the sluice.
09:54We've got four buckets of dirt from the dry blower for 12 hours' work.
09:58And then we put it through the sluice here and there's a little mat here.
10:01And the fine gold can get caught in the mat.
10:03And then what happens is at the end, once we wash all the dirt,
10:06we empty out the mat and empty out the sluice tray here, pan that off and we'll see what the
10:10result is.
10:11And the gold was actually all right to begin with, but it's kind of thinned out quite a bit.
10:17Because, you know, we set that ambitious target of a hundred ounces,
10:21which we need to train to maintain the team that we have and the machinery we have.
10:27So exciting when we've got a bigger team, but now racking at the same time that we have to get
10:34gold.
10:35The pressure's on us more than it ever was.
10:39You'll see a little bit of gold.
10:42That's only two buckets, but you can see a little bit here.
10:44Could be better, but not too bad.
10:48Just pushing up a bit of dirt, trying to keep up with these two blowers.
10:52Hopefully, if the ground is really good, we can work towards building a wet plant,
10:56so the weather doesn't stop us as much.
11:01Mark, how are you going?
11:04Yep, yep.
11:06Yep, yeah, righto, understandable.
11:10I'll speak to Cheryl tonight and I'll get back to you.
11:19How's it looking?
11:20Yeah, it's gold there, Simon, but definitely thinned out a bit.
11:25Yeah.
11:25We're really starting to run out of options here.
11:27Well, just had a bit of an interesting phone call.
11:31Mark, he's got a lease he wants us to work.
11:33It's had hundreds of ounces found, just detecting.
11:37Oh, great.
11:37It's never been dry-blowed.
11:38Where is it?
11:39I'll show you.
11:40We're way up here, and where he wants us to work is there.
11:47Colgoolie?
11:48Yeah.
11:48Yeah, that's not round the corner.
11:50So it's about 800km if you go the shortcut through the bush.
11:53That's a massive commitment financially for...
11:56Yeah, 30, 40 grand without considering the wages of, you know, the guys towing stuff backwards and forwards.
12:02Yeah.
12:02We've got to take everything there.
12:04And we've only got to the end of the week to let him know whether we're interested or not.
12:07We need an answer by the end of the week.
12:08Yeah.
12:08That's the biggest decision we've had to make moving wise.
12:11Yeah, absolutely.
12:12If we stay here, we could go bankrupt in a matter of weeks.
12:15Yeah.
12:16Big decisions.
12:25What do you mean you sold it?
12:26I sold it.
12:27Our first one-ounce nugget.
12:29Why don't we just sell it?
12:30To somebody else.
12:31I gave you first dibs.
12:32No, you didn't.
12:33I came to you.
12:34You didn't have the money.
12:34I sold it.
12:35How much did you get for it?
12:36I sold it for like $5,000.
12:38Haven't you got a sentimental bone in your body?
12:41Gold is money.
12:42And I needed the money.
12:45Mate, these roads have really gone gnarly.
12:48I'd be taking it easy through here if I were you.
12:50I was the first one to handle that.
12:52I gave birth to that thing.
12:53Yeah.
12:54I stuck my hand down into the earth.
12:57Pulled it out.
12:59Oh, look at this.
13:00Why don't you hop out and have a look?
13:02You want me to drive?
13:03Hell no.
13:08I reckon it's doable, but...
13:09I'd be looking for another way around.
13:11Nah, nah.
13:12I'm just gonna send it.
13:13You just watch this, mate.
13:15Don't get stuck.
13:23Alright, Bart, let's go.
13:24Woohoo!
13:25Let's find some gold.
13:28Lifelong mates, 51-year-old Darren Bray
13:31and 55-year-old Anthony Stein
13:34are starting their season
13:36over 3,500 kilometres from their homes in Tasmania
13:40in the remote goldfields of far north Queensland.
13:45We've basically set up a fly-in, fly-out operation
13:48where we travel up every few months
13:50for a few months at a time.
13:51So I'm leaving three young kids and my wife at home
13:54back in Tasmania.
13:56Pretty hard being so far away from them for so long.
13:59We've traded our life in Tasmania
14:01to come up here and rough it.
14:03Up here, you've got a chance of striking it.
14:06One big patch can change your life.
14:08Alright, mate.
14:09We are officially on open ground.
14:12In gold country.
14:13With gold prices soaring,
14:15the pair are determined to stake their own lease
14:18on newly available ground,
14:19close to an area they mined five years ago.
14:24It's been under licence for 20 years, mate,
14:26so we've got to prove this ground,
14:27prove it carries.
14:28Gold.
14:29We'll be the first to hammer in those pegs,
14:31get the application sent off.
14:33You know the drill,
14:34once these things come up,
14:35they go pretty quick.
14:37We've set ourselves a 20-ounce target this season.
14:39This could be the ground that gets us there.
14:41Yeah, yeah.
14:42So we just pull in,
14:43set up camp,
14:44and let's go for a walk.
14:46And do some detecting,
14:47go find some gold.
14:51You gonna give me a hand?
14:52Hand with that.
14:53Little Hilson on wheels.
14:55I just got a pop-top camper,
14:58which is pretty comfy.
15:00Ant's gonna be sleeping in his swag.
15:03It snores like a freight train,
15:04so I'm gonna be a little bit of distance between us.
15:08We run off grid out here,
15:10so we run our fridge off solar power.
15:12How about a second bedroom?
15:14We've got a pretty comfortable kitchen here.
15:17It's just a mattress.
15:19It's got a mitchy screen.
15:21Keep all the bugs and snakes out.
15:24This is the en-suite.
15:26Queen-size bed.
15:28I've got windows.
15:30Let the breeze in.
15:31It's still going.
15:32You've only got three poles, mate.
15:34Mate, this is all you need out in the bush.
15:36It's what the old-timers used.
15:38It might be all you need,
15:40but it's not all you want.
15:42There you have it.
15:44The North Queensland Hilton.
15:51I've always been interested in gold,
15:53ever since a young fella.
15:54It's like finding treasure.
15:57Didn't think much of it for quite a few years,
15:59until I met Darren.
16:01He started talking about it.
16:02He was very interested.
16:03He bought himself a detector,
16:05and we started finding gold.
16:07We decided to give the different type of gold mining another shot.
16:10I got burnt pretty bad the last time we decided to do something.
16:13I think we ran a little bit too big, too fast.
16:16Back in 2020, we ran a wash plant, which was a bit of a disaster.
16:20We ran three trucks.
16:21We had a 30-ton excavator, a 15-ton loader.
16:25We were making about 10 ounces a week, but it didn't end well.
16:29Machinery breaks down, fuel costs.
16:31We had a lot of problems.
16:33This season, we'd just like to improve some ground,
16:35take a lease, and then use some small equipment to scrape the top,
16:39get the nuggets that we can't pick up with a detector and a pick.
16:43I don't want to get burnt like last time.
16:44I can't afford it.
16:45It just about sank me.
16:49Oh, look at this, detector hole.
16:51Seeing that detector hole tells me that other people are out here chasing gold.
16:56We need to beat them to it.
16:58It's not a cheap process securing ground.
17:01There's all sorts of fees, so we want to detect the ground first
17:04and make sure it carries and make sure this ground is the one.
17:07Yes, we've got to find that patch first.
17:12Oh, there you have it.
17:13This is the sign he needed.
17:20Let's see if it's come out of the ground.
17:25Oh, it's out.
17:31Hear that?
17:33There it is, our first nuggie.
17:35Woo-hoo!
17:37Look out!
17:38Hey, Dazzy, copy?
17:40Copy, yeah?
17:41You really need to get over here, mate.
17:43Copy that.
17:44Maybe he's found something.
17:45Maybe.
17:47What do you got?
17:48Guess he's buying the beers tonight.
17:50You're joking.
17:51Check it out.
17:52A little maybe.
17:53Half gram.
17:54Here's a hundred bucks for you, mate.
17:55It's a start, mate.
17:56Good stuff.
17:56Well done.
17:57Woo!
18:10How'd you go?
18:11I had a very nice siesta under the tree, in the shade, and I got up and I found two
18:19nice
18:19little nuggets.
18:20Can you imagine how many of you would have found if you weren't sleeping under the tree?
18:23I found them just on the other side of that creek there.
18:26So I'd be probably on the edge of that.
18:28What do you think?
18:29Alright, we'll see how we go.
18:30We'll run down the edge right now.
18:33This could be the roof, Shane.
18:36As long as we've got some depth, here's what we want, some depth.
18:39In the remote Pilbara region, Rusty has brought in his mini excavator from his fantasy gully
18:45lease 20 kilometres away, hoping it will break through the tough ground around a newly
18:51discovered gold patch.
18:54The good thing about the excavator is you can clean the spinifex away, and then if we
18:58start digging down, we can get down to that deeper gold, because the detector will only
19:03work so deep.
19:09There's a nice sound there.
19:11Oh!
19:14Shane's on the one.
19:17That's just a nice sound.
19:18I don't know yet how big it is.
19:22See, it's just there somewhere.
19:25Yeah, that sounds better.
19:31There it is there.
19:33Nice bit of gold, Rusty!
19:35You got one?
19:36Yeah, it's rough as ducks, Russell.
19:38It's small, maybe 0.3 grams, so 50 bucks at best, but it's great colour.
19:43Okay, we're on.
19:44Let's just keep going.
19:46The good thing about the price of gold is it's made all the values of the leases increase
19:50quite substantially, too.
19:52And that's why we're here, to prove the lease so Shane can sell it.
19:55This is hard.
19:59What the hell is that?
20:12I know.
20:15Shane!
20:16Yes, Rusty?
20:19Look at this.
20:20Look.
20:21Look.
20:21Look.
20:21It's sticking out through the edge.
20:23It's done track pads.
20:24Well, we need this like a hole in the head, Russell.
20:27We're dead in the water now.
20:32It's broken the pads out of the tracks.
20:34That's four of them are gone.
20:36They must be here somewhere.
20:38Oh, they're broken off in here.
20:40That's a drive sprocket, and these are your drive teeth.
20:43And so they sit in there, and they're stuck to the track normally,
20:45and that turns around and grabs it and drives it again.
20:48And without these, I've got no drive, and it's going to break the track clean in half.
20:53Unbelievable.
20:54So what are we going to do, Russell?
20:55I have to go back to Fantasy, see if we've got another one there.
20:57It's not a big job, but still, I've got to go back and get it.
21:00Well, Rusty, let's not waste any time.
21:02Just move on.
21:04I'll go and detect and see if I can pick up a little bit.
21:07I'll just battle on here on me own, Russell.
21:10I'd better have the spare one, otherwise that's the end of this trip.
21:26Here we are on Kalgoorlie.
21:28Well, here's hoping the grain's good, Simon, hey?
21:30Because it's a big risk to move.
21:32Yeah, it's probably going to run into the 40 grand mark,
21:34just to get everything here.
21:35Before you actually make a gram of gold.
21:38And we're leaving gold to perhaps find more gold.
21:41But, you know, it could be a million dollar payday.
21:44Cheryl and Simon have just weeks of reliable pay dirt left at their main operation.
21:50So they've travelled more than 800 kilometres south,
21:54over half the length of Britain, in search of a lifeline.
21:58You're not going to travel 800 k's away to fully set up camp and everything like that.
22:02If it's the same gold, it's got to be better.
22:04Yeah.
22:04It all comes down to what we can see in these samples.
22:08High risk.
22:09High to work.
22:10They've been given the opportunity to relocate their entire operation here.
22:15But doing so means paying a percentage of any gold produced to the leaseholder.
22:21Yeah, I'll get you to bring up your maps because it's in here somewhere.
22:24Yeah, it's probably up here about 400 metres and then to your left.
22:27Oh yeah, I can see the old workings in here now.
22:29So someone's had a scratch around in here.
22:35Oh, that was a big drive.
22:36It was.
22:37We made it.
22:38A lot of old workings, so we'll grab just some random samples just here and there
22:42and then we can, you know, see if we can see a speck.
22:45So we've got something to back up our decision, really.
22:48Alright.
22:49Well, it's a half a million dollar target we've set for ourselves.
22:53Yeah, it's a big one.
22:54Let's go and scratch up some dirt and...
22:56Get some gold.
22:58It's a really big lease, probably over a thousand hectares.
23:02We've started here because there's a lot of old-timer pushings here.
23:05You don't do that many pushings if you're not finding any gold.
23:08This whole lease has only ever been scraped and detected.
23:11There's never been a dry blower on here.
23:12So hopefully we can mop up and get that really fine gold that they couldn't detect.
23:17That's our bread and butter.
23:20I'll just grab a little bit from here and a little bit from there.
23:22So we'll get a bit of an average then, maybe.
23:28The best bit is that while we're out here searching for new ground,
23:31we've got the team back at Mika working.
23:34You know, the wheels are still turning, which normally, you know, down tools,
23:36you're not making any money while you're looking for new ground.
23:39We actually go back and there's going to be dirt in the buckets ready for us to pan off.
23:46The thing is, with the move, yes, money's a massive, massive factor, isn't it?
23:49But we've also got a lovely team of people that we've got to look after and feed and make sure
23:55that we get gold on the other side.
23:57They're all willing to make the move for us.
23:59We want to make it worth the while.
24:01Well, it could cost their jobs if we don't get enough gold.
24:04It's a big decision. It's a really big decision.
24:09What's your thoughts then?
24:11It looks good.
24:12Like, it's got all the signs to it.
24:14And if this is where they found the least amount of nuggets, the other areas should be really good.
24:18And the thing is, if we don't take this deal, he's going to give it to someone else.
24:23Yeah.
24:23And are we missing out on a massive payday?
24:25Yeah, and I guess we've only got to the end of the week to make that decision.
24:28It's just got to proof itself, really.
24:30Yeah.
24:30We just want that nice little tail in the pan.
24:33So you only think, well, two specks for the two buckets, but you times that by thousands.
24:37That's going to be a lot of gold.
24:39Let's hope there's some speckies in there.
24:40Yeah.
24:41All right, let's go, lads.
24:43That tail in the pan determines our future, really.
25:00Keep going, mate.
25:03There you go.
25:04That's mechanical leverage, people.
25:11There you go.
25:13Look out!
25:16Still in there, mate.
25:24That sounds better.
25:27There it is.
25:30Oh, look at that!
25:31Oh, look at that!
25:32Look at that!
25:33Now we're talking.
25:35Much better.
25:37Oh, that's, that's like, that might be a four or five grammer, mate.
25:41At 5,000 bucks an ounce, mate.
25:42Woohoo!
25:43It's adding up.
25:45We need a few more of those.
25:47That'll start paying wages.
25:49Let's find some more.
25:50Where you find gold, it's usually it's friends with it.
25:53So, nice and, oh, here we go.
25:58Another target, Anne.
26:00Ooh, another target!
26:01It's almost coming too easy.
26:03Right at the base of the tree, too.
26:05That's a great spot.
26:08There we go.
26:10Ah.
26:12We've got two targets right next to each other.
26:13We have.
26:15Well, how about we get this one first?
26:16Okay.
26:17All right.
26:18Let's see.
26:19Oh, look at that.
26:20Oh, no way.
26:21Another five, six grams.
26:23Look at the size of that!
26:24Oh, my God.
26:25That's got some weight.
26:26Look at that.
26:27We've got one here under your foot, you reckon.
26:31This should be an easy one for you, mate.
26:33Two in one hole, mate.
26:34I love when that happens.
26:37Oh, there it is!
26:39Look at that.
26:41That's another beauty, mate.
26:44They're coming thick and fast.
26:45We're going to peg this.
26:47It's paying.
26:48Let's get the GPS.
26:49Mark this spot.
26:50Locked in.
26:51All right, let's go.
26:53Oh!
26:54So, once we've got a lease peg,
26:56we can use small machines to scrape the top off the ground
26:59and get anything deeper down that we missed from the surface.
27:02I've plotted out a 75-hectare area around the patch.
27:06We're going to make sure our coordinates are bang on, too.
27:08If we make a mistake on those coordinates,
27:10the mines department won't even accept the lease.
27:12To secure their mining rights,
27:14they must first hammer in four metal pegs
27:17to mark out the boundaries of a new lease
27:19before lodging the coordinates with the mines department.
27:23Mate, just looking on this map,
27:24we're getting pretty close to where we're going to put our first peg in.
27:27Excellent.
27:29Hey, what's that?
27:31That's new tracks.
27:32Got to be joking.
27:33Let's get out and have a look.
27:38We've just spotted some tracks,
27:40and this is right on the area that we want to peg.
27:43Mate, these are fresh tracks.
27:44These aren't ours.
27:45So, this means that somebody else is out here.
27:48Got to be joking.
27:50Mate, is that a car?
27:52Mate, let's go.
27:53Let's go.
27:54How can someone be here before we get here?
27:59Let's go.
28:03Mate, I can't believe someone beat us out here.
28:14There's a lot of spare, at least.
28:15Well, we're going to open this up.
28:17Got to crack the valve in here.
28:18Yep.
28:18And then let the idler gear come back.
28:20Oh, yeah.
28:20And that'll let the track down.
28:22Okay.
28:22You watch this, it'll start to sag down in a second.
28:25Rusty was able to get another track from his lease,
28:28so we've just got to change it out and get back to it.
28:32I'll leave you around this side.
28:33Yep.
28:34All right, now what I want to do now is this bar here,
28:37I want you to push it backwards.
28:38Okay.
28:39Only when I tell you.
28:40Yeah, okay.
28:40If I yell, I want you to stop.
28:42Okay.
28:42All right, start going.
28:44All right, keep going.
28:46Keep going.
28:47Yep, yep, whoop, whoop.
28:50All right, a bit more.
28:51A bit more.
28:53Keep going.
28:54All right, that's it.
28:56She's off.
28:56Stop, stop.
28:57Stop there.
28:58Yeah, well, I had to do all the heavy work.
29:00Don't hurt yourself, though.
29:04You all right or what?
29:05I better fix up my arse.
29:07How would you feel?
29:08I told you to be careful.
29:10Now they're getting the new one back on.
29:11What can I do now, Russell?
29:12Well, stay out of the way if you want.
29:14You don't want to get hurt.
29:15I should be able to take care of this.
29:18That's it.
29:19We got it, Shane.
29:20We got it.
29:21Okay, Rusty, let's get back on the gold.
29:30We found some nice buck-ups already, so just a few more chains to be able to get a good
29:34dollar for this lease.
29:35I mean, for a lease that's not very good, you'll pay $5,000 or $6,000 for it, but one
29:39that's good, you'll pay $60,000, $70,000.
29:41I've seen leases for $100,000, $200,000 because they're good gold-proving leases.
29:46The gold price today doesn't take long to recoup it.
29:49It's got to prove that it's here, that the gold is here.
29:55Gee, that's a nice sound.
29:56It's either a very large piece.
29:58I don't know what it is, but let's dig it out and have a look.
30:04Come on, where are you?
30:05Come on, the gold gods are going to start looking after me.
30:10I can't work this out.
30:11It seems to be there and not there, so obviously a couple together here.
30:18Oh, there it is there.
30:22That's the nicest little bit of gold we've found out.
30:24Look at it.
30:24You know, always check.
30:26There you are.
30:27There's another sound.
30:28That's why I had so much trouble.
30:30Right, I've got it in the scoop.
30:33Look at that.
30:36So, there you are.
30:38Two together.
30:39This is what you want to find.
30:41Really good-sized gold.
30:43Probably about $400 or $500 worth there.
30:46Radio.
30:48Silky, eh?
30:53Oh, listen to that, brother.
30:56Let's have a look.
30:57Come on.
30:59Always separate your material as much as you can.
31:06Ah, it's in here.
31:07It's in here.
31:12Look at this bit of blood.
31:13Look at this bit of quartz.
31:18Oh, there's gold attached to this.
31:20This is off a reef.
31:21That means it hasn't travelled very far.
31:23Russell!
31:25I found some reef gold.
31:27Well done, Shano.
31:29We'd better take another scrape off this.
31:31Well, if you've done that bit now, I'll come and dig that deeper.
31:34There's probably more down deeper.
31:35OK, Rusty.
31:38Well, we're doing the cha-cha, Russell.
31:40Swap around.
31:42Shane's had a couple of really good vines.
31:44Oh, jeez, that's hard.
31:45Well, quartz here.
31:46Shane's found a speci and a few nuggets here.
31:48So, I'll go through now and I'll dig this out again and get down deeper.
31:51Because when the gold travels through, it travels on the bottom, on its deepest part.
31:55So, that's where we need to get to.
31:57He's found the floaters and the speci, so it needs to be fed by the source.
32:01So, worth digging again.
32:04It's cribbing up the temperature, believe me.
32:07Oh, there's a sound.
32:09OK, let's have a look.
32:11Oh, this is the first sound of this new scrape.
32:14So, let's have a look.
32:22Oh, nailed it first up!
32:26Oh, no wonder I nailed it.
32:28Look at the size of that!
32:29This is the lovely piece of gold, shaped like United Kingdom.
32:33Scotland up the top there, and Wales in the corner.
32:36And that little bit there would be what they call Swansea, and over the other side would be Cornwell.
32:42Looking at each other.
32:44This piece of gold would be worth a lot more money in the value of the gold.
32:48I would say it would be worth $600 or $700.
32:52Rusty!
32:54You got another one!
32:55I'm not coming over there.
32:57My bones are too weary, Russell.
32:59Hey, you've been on your knees the whole time.
33:01I have been on me knees picking out nuggets.
33:04Yeah, Rusty, have a way of that!
33:08That's got to be at least an ounce.
33:09I think it's every part of that, Russell.
33:11It's not big, but it's gold.
33:12That's the main thing.
33:13And it's special too.
33:15You've done well for the day.
33:16Seven-year-old and digging nuggets like a champ.
33:18Now, I've got to get these five ounces of gold for this buyer.
33:21If we don't succeed, no deal.
33:23So, when we weigh it up there, can we just think about a bit of rusty magic on the way
33:28out, okay?
33:28We can do that.
33:29Let's give him five ounces first.
33:30I don't care how we get it to him, but we're going to get it to him, Shane.
33:33The last hurrah!
33:34Make it happen!
33:47I just can't believe someone's here.
33:49Yeah, it's so close to our patch.
33:52All right, mate.
33:53We are close now.
33:54This is it.
33:54This is the spot.
33:55The gold drifters Darren and Anthony are racing to hammer in four corner pegs.
34:00Just pull in here.
34:01To carve out a new 75 hectare mining lease from newly available ground.
34:07All right, let's pegs in.
34:09Which way?
34:10This way.
34:11Keep going.
34:12But with a rival prospector in the area, a single overlapping claim could cost them the lease.
34:19All right, remember, we've got to get this perfectly in line, right?
34:22Okay, okay.
34:23Tell me where, mate.
34:24All right, this is it.
34:25This is the spot.
34:27This is our northeast post.
34:29This is the most important post.
34:30This is the one the mines department checked.
34:32So we're going to get this in first.
34:33We're going to put our coordinates in.
34:35Name of the company, date of peg.
34:37We've already seen someone in here this morning.
34:39We don't know whether they've pegged anything or not.
34:41We're not taking any chances, so we're just going to peg right now.
34:44Because if they peg an area which falls within where we want to peg, we miss out.
34:48We've got to go home.
34:50Okay.
34:51All right, mate.
34:52I'm taking a photo for evidence, all right?
34:54All right, here we go.
34:55Jeez.
34:56Beautiful.
34:56Let's go.
34:59One down.
35:00Three to go, mate.
35:04All right, mate.
35:05We're getting pretty close now, though.
35:06I need this spot.
35:07Okay.
35:07Tell me when to pull over.
35:08Mate, just pull up.
35:10What, here?
35:11No, a bit further?
35:11Keep going.
35:12Keep going.
35:13Righto.
35:14All right, pull it in here.
35:15All right.
35:17Grab it and follow me.
35:19All right.
35:20Just up here.
35:24Mate, this looks good right here.
35:26Yeah.
35:26All right.
35:27This lines up perfectly with the northeast.
35:29Mate, I don't see anyone here.
35:31I think we're the first here.
35:32That's good news.
35:34We're good.
35:35Another photo.
35:36Two down.
35:37Let's go.
35:40It's just up here.
35:42Okay.
35:43Let's just get this done.
35:45Mate, is that him?
35:47Oh, no.
35:48What the ****?
35:49He's holding a peg.
35:50I can't believe this.
35:52He's pegging a lease.
35:53You've got to be joking.
35:54Let's just get this in.
35:55Come on.
35:57Grab your stuff.
35:58Let's go.
35:59Let's go.
36:00Mate, this is it.
36:02We're on point here.
36:03All right.
36:04All right.
36:08Oh, he's leaving.
36:09Got his peg down.
36:10Mate, he's got a peg in.
36:13All right.
36:13Let's go.
36:15Come on.
36:15We've got to beat him for the last peg.
36:17Get your stuff in.
36:18Let's go.
36:18Let's go.
36:21Go, go, go, go, go.
36:24Let's hammer it.
36:30We've got three pegs in.
36:32We've got one to go.
36:33We've got date stamps, time stamps, and all of our posts.
36:36Mate, he'd better not beat us.
36:38Mate, we'll be good.
36:39We'll be good.
36:39All right.
36:40Pull in here.
36:42Let's go.
36:47Come on, mate.
36:48It's the last peg.
36:54A few more.
36:56All right.
36:57That'll do.
36:57That'll do.
36:59Final peg in.
37:00Mate, let's time stamp this.
37:03Now we need to lodge the application and hopefully secure this lease.
37:20I'm so eager to find out what the samples are that Simon's doing from Calgary.
37:26Because it is a bit of a head mess.
37:28It's not just about moving the team and everything.
37:31It's a massive financial outlay to go there.
37:34Like, we're at least going to spend $40,000 to get there.
37:38And even if we do get a positive result with the sample, that could be the best it's going
37:43to get.
37:43You just don't know.
37:44Cheryl and Simon have returned from a 1,600km round trip exploring new ground.
37:52If their 40kg samples come back at a high enough grade, it could see them relocate their
37:59entire operation.
38:04This could be a great opportunity and a perfect timing as well.
38:08Because the gold has been dropping off on this lease.
38:12So we were thinking about moving on somewhere else.
38:15But moving on somewhere else down the road, not 800km away.
38:20It's a bit nerve wracking really.
38:21I've never really done any work around Kalgoorlie.
38:24It's all been up around sort of this top end of WA.
38:29So I'm just panning off our Kalgoorlie samples now.
38:32I've put them all into the one batch basically.
38:36So we can have a look at what we got out of all the samples all together.
38:40And it can give us a bit of an indication on how we're going to go.
38:44A nice little amount of fine gold there.
38:48A few specks for just a couple of hand buckets of dirt.
38:53Imagine how many specks you're going to get when you put through 900 tonne from loader buckets.
38:59And then you look at what we've got there for eight hours of the dry blower.
39:06That's a lot to think about.
39:07Do we go take the gamble on this?
39:10800km away, move all our gear.
39:11Stay here and continue to get that.
39:13But then that could drop off any day.
39:16So, yeah.
39:17Bit of a head scratch of what one we go with there.
39:20Yeah, not a decision to be taken lightly.
39:26Better weigh up the gold, Cheryl.
39:29What a week, hey?
39:30Yeah.
39:31Big decisions to be made.
39:32It all comes down to this little jar and that little jar.
39:34But it's not just down to that either.
39:36It's down to, you know, we've got so much to think about.
39:38The team financially.
39:40The risk.
39:41We've set ourselves the target of two ounces a day.
39:44Yep.
39:45So we've got to get 14 ounces for the week.
39:47To see whether we're staying or are we moving on.
39:51Yeah, okay.
39:52No idea.
39:58There's three ounces.
40:00Four.
40:01Five.
40:02Six.
40:03Seven.
40:04Eight.
40:05Nine.
40:06Oh, it's going to be close.
40:0810.
40:1012.36.
40:11It'd be close to about 62k for the week.
40:14Ooh, that's just under then, isn't it?
40:16Just under.
40:17That makes it harder in a way, because it's just just under.
40:20I know.
40:21Okay.
40:21And our sampling.
40:22What have we got there?
40:27That's probably about a gram in there.
40:28Yeah.
40:29And then you try and imagine that's what we got out of our little sample buckets to,
40:33you know, do a 900 ton a day.
40:35It could be pretty rich.
40:36It could be very rich.
40:38Or did we pick the best part?
40:39Or did we pick the worst part?
40:41Yeah, that's exactly right.
40:42The thing is, it is thinning out here, but it has been good to us up until now.
40:46So do we stay and hope that it gets a bit better again?
40:49Well, I don't want Mark to ring me up in three months' time and say, you know, you're stuffed
40:54up there.
40:55Someone's doing it and they've pulled, you know, a million bucks worth of gold out of
40:58there.
40:58Yeah.
40:59I reckon we go.
41:00Me too.
41:01Let's have a crack.
41:04Let's do it.
41:06Big move.
41:13First way up of your last season.
41:15It's been a big week, hasn't it?
41:16It has.
41:17We managed to get over a few issues.
41:19We had a breakdown.
41:19We got over that.
41:21And we managed to find gold still.
41:23So I think we're going all right, Russell.
41:24It's been a good week.
41:25Yep.
41:26It's been enjoyable.
41:26Come on, Rusty, weigh it up.
41:27How enjoyable has it been, though?
41:29I was about to see.
41:34Oh, it's 1.062.
41:36That's decent money.
41:37And then the specie, that'll crush up and give us a few more grams out of that.
41:40So, OK, that's about 1.4.
41:43So I reckon about 1.3.
41:45So we're going to go all right.
41:46That's about $6,500.
41:48Well, Russell, we need a total of five ounces to sell the tenement.
41:51At the moment, we've got probably an ounce and a half,
41:53so we've got to get three and a half ounces to make it happen.
41:57And we're not going to get that detecting, are we?
41:59No way in the world, Russell.
42:00We can either sluice or dryblow.
42:02It looks like I've got a job to do, haven't I?
42:03I've got to find a dryblower.
42:05In the middle of nowhere, Shane, I'll just click my fingers
42:08and do a Miss Genie, shall I?
42:09Well, Russell, sometimes you have a little bit of luck
42:11and you might be able to just pull something out of your hat.
42:13There's a lot of people around here and you're well connected.
42:16Come on, Rusty, let's move on.
42:23It's been a pretty full-on week.
42:25Mate, that was a huge week.
42:26It was a mission just getting here.
42:28Oh, mate.
42:28How about that guy that we nearly poached our patch?
42:31Oh, yeah.
42:32Thank God we got it all submitted, well, pegged and submitted.
42:35Paperwork in.
42:36Let's hope everything goes to plan.
42:38Yep.
42:38We can get our gear.
42:39We can go back out and find some more gold.
42:41Yeah.
42:41In the meantime, should we see what we've got for the week?
42:43Absolutely.
42:44That's what I'm here for.
42:530.84 of an ounce.
42:550.84 of an ounce.
42:575,000 bucks an ounce.
43:00Yeah.
43:00Mate, 4,200 bucks.
43:02Nice.
43:02It won't keep the bank managers off our back, but hey, it's a start.
43:06Well, it goes towards covering the cost of just getting here, which is good.
43:10It's just the beginning.
43:11I'm sure there's more there.
43:12Good start.
43:13Problem is, we're about 19 and a bit of ounces short of our target.
43:16Yeah.
43:16We've got a lot of work to do.
43:17We've got a heap of work to do.
43:18Well, let's hope this approval comes through soon and we can start opening this whole area
43:23up.
43:24Let's find some more.
43:25Alright.
43:26Let's find some more.
43:28All right.
43:56Let's find some more.
43:56Let's find some more.
43:56You
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