Bering Sea Gold

Over a century ago, america was forever changed

by an industrial revolution.

A revolution that sparked bold innovations

and unprecedented wealth.

That spirit is alive and well in nome, Alaska.

Spearheaded by Shawn pomrenke.

Mr. Gold's gonna get some gold.

Who revolutionized offshore gold mining.

This is what it's all about.

There's millions in gold on the Bering sea floor.

The trick is, how do you get it?

Here we go!

Most everyone in noam goes diving from a suction dredge.

You send a diver down with a hose,

you pump up the material from the bottom,

and you filter out the gold.

But over a decade ago, I thought outside the box.

I think with that dredge set up the right way,

I'll be crushing the competition.

I put an excavator on a barge.

This thing is awesome.

I could mine deeper and faster and go through

way more material than any diver could ever do.

Yeah!

It was the first of its kind.

I called it the Christine Rose,

and it made me rich.

This is more money than some people make in a lifetime.

Two years ago, I stepped it up a notch.

I took over and redesigned the myrtle Irene,

yeah.

The largest excavator dredge on the Bering sea.

Ooh, Mr. Gold's doing its thing.

Now, in a bid to launch the next golden empire,

the miners are unleashing a new wave of innovations,

we get gold, you gotta have bigger and better equipment.

Ushering in another industrial revolution.

We're going to the next level.

I can feel the money that we're going to make.

My seacrawler's like a robot that replaces human divers.

Never gets tired, never complains,

and it will never stop getting gold.

We're going to get chunks of gold that big this year.

I've got the largest diver-operated suction dredge

in the whole world.

There's not a better gold dredge in nome.

That means more volume through the sluice box

and more gold for me.

That's good money.

I'm running the most advanced dredge in the fleet.

I've got hydraulics to move it quick.

We're like clockwork out here.

Position the hose.

Here we go, yeah!

And adjust the anchors.

I can set up to mine faster than anyone,

so I will be on the gold faster, too.

It's my time to shine.

It's not just about what machine you have,

it's how you operate that machine.

Yeah!

- I'm overhauling my whole team. - -You're a champion!

A crew that's like family is where the gold's gonna come from.

What?

Sorry.

Unmanned bottom crawlers are the way of the future.

That thing is a beauty.

Mine's gonna be like nothing else on the Bering sea.

A lot of people around here call it the short bus.

It's gonna make me a fortune.

- That's a tasty pile of gold right there. - Yeah.

But every revolution has its battles -damn it.

Half of that's my gold -money.

I'll see you in court.

And after this summer...

No one in the gold mining fleet has ever experienced

a storm like this.

Nothing will ever be the same.

We're gonna have to evacuate.

We're sinking!

I can lose every boat I own.

Man!

- This thing could explode. - Get back!

Try to get us out, so let's move back.

This is crazy.

Everybody's screwed.

Nome, Alaska.

Home of the richest offshore gold deposit in the world.

Every summer, once the ice melts on the Bering sea,

miners descend on this small town, whoo!

Diving or digging...

For fortune on ocean plots known as claims

that are leased by the state

and the stakes could not be higher

as just one single ounce of gold

can be worth over $2,000.

Raining, it's cold. Another beautiful day in nome, Alaska.

As summer mining begins, nome's industrial giant

is looking to get rolling.

It's the start of the year, exciting, can't wait

to get this thing out there and dig up a bunch of gold.

By putting the biggest weapon in his arsenal,

the myrtle Irene, onto the Bering sea.

She's coming up now.

Hooking up the shackle, hooking up the chain

to keep the boat from rolling away from us.

The myrtle Irene's huge, way too heavy

to lift with a crane, so pulling her across airbags.

This is the only way we can get her in and out of the water each season.

Yeah.

Looking really good.

It's a delicate process.

If it tumbles off, it could be hundreds

of thousands of dollars in repairs in a blink of an eye.

It's time to roll this thing in.

This is the most dangerous part of the whole project.

Slow and steady.

That's how we're gonna do it.

Right now, we're at the water's edge.

This is the most critical part.

Keep rolling. Almost there.

We're in the water!

Yeah!

Nice job, guys.

I've been the top dog in nome for years.

I always felt like I was in a different league than the rest of the fleet.

But now, with some recent advancements,

that gap is starting to narrow.

So this summer, I'm not messing around.

It's time to go put some gold in the box.

I want to get enough gold to keep me

ahead of the pack and bank me a big profit after expenses.

For the pomeranki empire, that number is 3,000 ounces,

which would be the most gold I've ever made in one season.

Got a lot of guys to feed around here.

We're going to be rolling, making money.

- Fire everything up. - Okay.

Hey, hey, hey.

We got problems.

Cracked spud.

That one's cracked. This side's cracked.

Busted there, too.

We have to hit the ground running this summer,

and now we have a major, major issue.

We got cracks in our spuds.

The two steel columns that we lower into the Bering sea floor

to hold us in place while we're digging.

- It's like two 20-foot cracks. - That's a crack right there.

So this whole thing all the way around is cracked.

If they're cracked, especially this bad,

they could break off.

That could tear the bottom of the barge open and sink the myrtle.

If we go dig on it, we'd be we'd tear it in half.

It's bad.

There's no quick fix to this.

The spud's got to come out.

We've got to pull it out, cut an inspection hole,

check out the internals of the spud.

But I don't have a good feeling about it.

We'll see how deep the damage goes.

If these cracks go all the way through

and simple welding won't fix it, we're screwed.

It's not like there's spuds sitting around the hardware store.

Getting replacements could take months.

All right.

This could be the end of it.

Until we open it up, we don't know.

It could be the end of the myrtle season before it even began.

With Shawn on the ropes.

Summer mining, baby.

It's in full swing.

So far, so good. You know, I got an early start.

First one in the water, you know.

That's the rule of the game.

If you ain't first, you're last.

The stage is now set for a new titan to create

a revolution of his own.

I crushed it this winter, and I came up with the best divers.

I mean, we made history, pretty much.

As the youngest captain in the fleet,

Chris mcculley made a splash this winter

when miners dive under the ice,

breaking the bank with his gold hauls,

100, 200, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine...

We just tipped the scale.

And upsetting the balance of power by

besting Shawn in total ounces.

Things are looking pretty good.

Best day ever.

This summer, he's showing no signs of letting up.

This is a serious business, you know?

At the end of the day, this is our livelihood.

Can't mess around.

It's time to go dredging.

Yeah.

This season, I'm determined to kill it

with the most advanced tech on the water.

And that's why I'm rolling with the tahta.

This boat was a former shrimp boat.

It's got the hydraulics to move the hose, to pick up the jets.