Gold Rush

Right now we're working at the money pit.

This is some deep ground here, about double

from what we were working last year on the Indian river.

Parker is gonna be spending a lot of money

before we ever get an ounce of gold out of here.

Yeah, man. Well, I can't imagine

the pressure he's under, you know,

going from having all that money in the bank

to next day having a big 'ol debt

and long time till we start seeing any gold

to help pay it off.

You know, going broke has to be in the back of all of our minds.

Parker schnabel is risking everything

to build an empire in the klondike.

At just 28-years-old,

he's leveraged everything he has to buy

the $15 million dominion creek claim.

It has been an outrageously expensive spring

but that is an understatement.

We've already spent more this year than we've ever spent

in this season,

and we haven't even started really.

If Parker's spending spree puts him

on the gold, dominion could pay out big,

up to 80,000 ounces, worth $160 million.

Looks like a really good block of ground, but,

you know, it's a bit of a beast.

A month into the season,

Parker's facing the most critical time for a miner.

He's spending hundreds of thousands each week

to strip down to the pay layer,

but no money is coming in.

At this pace,

he could go broke in just six weeks.

And probably still like

15 feet to bedrock, it looks like.

And that means there's 10 feet to thaw, and a foot a week is 10 weeks.

Two and a half months and we'll be able to sluice here.

It's just super frustrating having this much ground

and so much gold in it,

and for the problems we're facing right now financially,

it may as well just not even exist.

But it's like...

Yeah, I think the only way we can kinda...

Get over this hump is to get a plant going,

we're gonna make it sluice a bunch of tailings

and see if there's any gold in it.

Parker's dominion creek claim includes a slew

of old cuts worked by old timers,

going all the way back to the gold rush of 1896.

Their mining equipment was less efficient

at cleaning pay-dirt, leaving lots

of gold behind in the waste tailings.

Right there is fine.

Parker has found old tailings near gold run creek

that he thinks could bring in some quick money.

That is gold run, which was a super-rich creek.

And where it dumped into dominion,

I'm guessing was, you know, in this area right here.

I think there's gonna be a bunch of gold in the tailings.

If there is, it's great because there's no stripping,

they're thawed and we need to get some money

coming in because we're gonna be broke very soon.

Parker is going to run a test yard

of tailings through a mini trommel

to see if there's enough gold.

So if we run a yard, we need to get

155 milligrams.

Forty buckets?

Forty buckets.

Is that bucket seven?

There's seven.

Holy cow.

We're flying.

So, all these tailings were mined in the '80s

- with an old push box. - Really?

You weren't even born in the '80s, were you?

And you were only like 65.

Yeah.

Is that 39?

Thirty-nine.

- One more? - One more after this.

- Last one? - Last one.

Last one.

See anything in there?

It'll probably be tiny, whatever it is.

Well, we'll get it back and go through it?

Yeah.

Do it properly.

We're gonna go pan her down, weigh it up,

see what we've got.

I bet its 240 milligrams.

I'll go 190.

226 for a shot of whiskey.

Shot of whiskey, 226, 240, 190.

190.

I'm always a positive guy.

So 300 would be ideal

but, you know, beggars can't be choosers.

To make it worth sluicing,

Parker needs the one yard test

to deliver at least 155 milligrams of gold.

54.

That means it sucks.

All right.

Old baggie?

Are they in here?

Yeah, just a few in there.

Its so annoying.

Overall, it's very lean.

Um, I've gotta talk to the guys about it

and figure out what we're gonna do.

10 miles away, king of the klondike,

Tony beets has the same problem as Parker,

no gold coming in.

After three weeks stripping at paradise hill,

Tony put that operation on hold

and is returning to his Indian river claims

for a quick score.

The ground is some of the best Tony's ever mined,

bringing in more than $13 million

with more sitting right on the surface.

Without needing to strip the ground,

Tony is also saving hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Before he can take advantage

of these near perfect conditions,

Tony first needs to get his gear to the cuts.

We seem to be missing something.

Yeah.

No one was here to keep an eye on anything either.

Yeah.

Well, it would've been nice.

Tony's pre-stripped cuts lie on the other side

of a small creek that runs through his claim,

but the bridge across it has collapsed.

Tony's plan, remove the old broken bridge,

then bring in a 20-foot long culvert

and cover it with tailings to build up a road

across the creek and allow his equipment

to access the cuts.

A good road is worth its weight in gold.

They'll save time, money, and just generally a big headache.

No road, no gold.

I know, but once it start walking back, it's gonna jerk.

You're doing a jig over there?

The flow of the creek is increasing

due to melting snow.

The clock is ticking to get the culvert in.

Yeah.

To optimize water flow under the road,

the 20 foot by 6 foot culvert

must lie in the center of the creek.

I need to fill this in 'cause otherwise,

that water is gonna wash away the culvert.

To stop the water washing away the culvert,

Mike races to build up the road and secure it in place.

So you wanna get there and quick 'cause the longer you wait,

the more work you have to do to fix it.

And if you wait too long,

you have to start literally

from the beginning again.

Well, work you piece of.

Yeah.

Now I'm drenched.

To access his cuts at Indian river,

Tony beets is racing

to build a road across a creek

before melt water washes the culvert away.

Using waste material from the rock trucks,

Mike builds up the road around the culvert.

This will give me enough dirt

so that we have a two-Lane road here once again.

- Hey, Morgan, you got a copy? - Yeah, go ahead, Rick.

How low is that pay pile getting us?

It's getting pretty bad, right?

Yeah, I'm getting pretty low.

That second pile to you right way over by the other...

By the other trailers?

Yeah, I see it way over there.

Yeah, if you take two quick scoops from the pile we're on,

dump them in the feeder,

and then haul ass over to that other...

That far pile and grab one scoop.

You should be able to get back in time to like,

you know, dump it in the hopper before it,

you know, clears out.

All right. Sounds good.

125 miles from Dawson city,

Rick ness is on a comeback mission.

After failing to mine at all last year

and nearly losing everything,

he's rebuilding from scratch.

I've got a lot on the line this year.

There's just Morgan and I right now, but I feel great.

Yeah, I mean I feel like I've got that old energy back.

So we're gonna win as much as we can this year, so...

To fund his season, Rick's been running pay dirt

from the first of two old pay piles.

So far, he's brought in 42 ounces

worth just over $84,000.