Gold Rush

It's a big, big job.

Hopefully, we don't kill each other in the process.

I'm freaking sorry. I screwed up. Okay?

Fire it up.

- Come on, baby. - There she goes.

First cleanup is going to be awesome.

- Whoa! - Whoo!

This is bull ****

Man: Are you all right?

Hey, we need a medic down here.

Things just got really **** complicated.

I'm way too close to that **** edge.

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Holy...

I am freaking exhausted.

Ah.

It's my cut. It's my **** up.

It's so gross.

So, today we're starting our big move to the last cut.

Hopefully, the last cut here has the gold in it

to get us to that 5,000-ounce target.

As soon as we get the plant up and going and fire it up,

we'll see what we come up with.

In the Klondike, Parker Schnabel is pushing hard

to set up his final operation on Tony Beets' ground.

Hopefully, this move goes well, and we can be back to Sluicing

and making money as soon as possible.

Opening up a new cut means the crew must move

Wash Plant Sluicifer from the upper cut,

where it's been running all season.

Here we go.

Howdy, fellas.

So I guess it's time to move this thing, huh?

The pad's not ready.

Aah, the cut's not drained.

We don't have a spot for the feeder.

We don't have a spot for tailings.

You know, I mean, we've got a lot of work to do.

I'm going to say that we'll need four days to do this,

and I'd like to try to keep it to that.

Four days is going to be pushing it.

We're going to have a busy three or four days.

- Yeah, we are. - Let's get this ****

- On the road. - Yeah.

We've got a timeline for getting the plant running, you know.

It's getting close to the end of the season,

and it's just damn near overwhelming.

Before they begin the move, Parker's crew

still has to finish stripping the last cut.

Next, they'll dig a tailings pond

the size of a football field,

then build a Wash Plant Pad that's 60 feet high,

all before Parker drags Sluicifer down

and fires it back up in just four days.

It's a pretty big dirt-moving project here

to get a pit opened up.

At the new site,

Parker and Rick dig out the tailings pond.

A lot of this area has been mined before.

Where we're at right now is all tailings piles and mud.

What the ****

That's some nice-looking gravel.

Hmm.

Sure as hell looks like pay.

I guess we'll take a pan and see.

Well, looks like pay.

We've got some nice colors up there.

If this keeps up, there's pay under the whole thing.

- You see what I found over here? - What?

What does that look like?

It's virgin ground under here.

So we started off digging a hole for tailings,

and we are ending up with a cut.

I mean, it'd be a real sin to just sluice on top of this.

This is not coinciding with the deadline, though.

The other thing, too, I mean,

it is also scheduled days off

and all that **** you know what I mean?

Oh, right.

We'll just have to tell them they're not off.

To meet the deadline, Parker's crew

will have to give up their scheduled time off.

With the end of the season less than seven weeks away,

Parker is keeping the pressure on.

If this pace is really good,

then it'll really help us get to our goal.

If it's not good, then it just costs us a bunch of time.

Who knows? Maybe it'll be the best ground in the world.

This season's been tough.

A lot of things have happened that were out of our control.

And we're way short of our goal.

In Colorado, Todd Hoffman has two running wash plants.

At Sacramento, Monster Red

is sluicing dirt from the Jewelry Box.

And Rusty Red is running pay dirt at Fairplay.

Todd started out with a 5,000-ounce goal.

But so far, he's only produced around 1,100 ounces.

I'm not giving up. I do have an ace up my sleeve.

I got this brand-new Trommel.

I'm calling it the Holy Roller.

It does several hundred yards an hour.

But 10 days in, his new plant is still not running,

and the crew is frustrated.

Hunter: You know, I'm pretty pissed off right now.

I'm really getting tired

of trying to make this Wash Plant work.

I don't know. We're all just tired of losing,

and we need to win finally.

Above the Trommel, Todd and Hunter

anchor the feeder to the hill.

Hurry up, Hunter.

We got to get this done, get out of here.

Below, Juan connects the feeder to the Trommel

using a chute he's fabricated to bridge the final two feet.

It's the last piece that we need

to get that feeder hooked up to the Trommel,

so I want to get it done before the end of the day.

The Trommel's just about ready.

I think the very first day,

we're going to have some big gold right in the box.

200 feet away,

Trey is stripping a boulder field in the new cut.

He needs to get down to the pay that will feed their Trommel,

the Holy Roller.

Golden gulch is probably like 80 feet deep behind me.

Tough digging, it's tough handling these boulders.

The biggest badass boulder I've ever seen.

Hey, Trey, you got a copy?

Yeah. Go ahead, todd.

Trommel's just about ready.

How are you doing down there in the cut?

We're going as fast as we can here.

Can you move any faster down there and get us pay?

I'm doing this on my own. I damn sure don't need

this kind of pressure to go along with it.

I've already got enough pressure on my own.

I don't-I don't need any help from him.

****

****

Oh, the **** pin...

The pin's backed out of the bucket on this.

A steel pin connects the excavator's thumb to the bucket.

When the flange holding the pin failed,

the pin slipped out, and the thumb jammed.

****

We're never going to get to pay without this machine.

Hopefully I can get ahold of Juan.

He can get up here and get this pin put back in.

Hey, Juan, do you have a copy?

- You okay, Jeff? - I'm good.

Sorry about that, man.

While he installs the chute,

Juan has switched his radio off.

Juan, Juan, do you have a copy?

Oh, what happened there?

Hello? Anybody at Fairplay,

does anybody know where the mechanics are?

Other way, other way!

This chute is wider than this chute.

- You're **** me. - I'm not.

It should've been 38 1/2 on the inside.

Oh, we're cocked.

- Are we cocked? - Yeah.

I don't think it's going to go, man.

Juan has made the chute too small.

I screwed up, guys.

Way to go. Now, we're not even going to have it in

before we have to shut down for the day.

I'm freaking sorry. I screwed up. Okay? ****

Guys, another day we're not running.

It's $20,000 in gold that we're out.

Day 10, still waiting for Juan.

How you doing, guys?

Where in the **** have you been, Juan?