Bering Sea Gold

Now...

On "bering sea gold"...

Yeah!

I'm in debt over a million dollars

after that business deal fell apart,

but I'm gonna come back stronger than ever.

And with this seafloor moving around,

today I have a trick up my sleeve

that will help me get there.

When the tide's out, you move deeper.

Yeah!

Yee-haw.

The ocean floor has shifted,

and I've found a new spot from the air

that no one's ever mined.

I've got to keep pushing the myrtle to the limit

so I can stay mr. Gold.

We've got a problem, houston.

To get enough gold to buy the boat this season,

I'm taking a huge gamble

and I'm bringing on another diver.

Today bree has to dive. She has to prove she can get gold.

Good luck.

The goldship can go further out

than any other dredge,

so we'll be able to tap into claims

that other people only wish they could reach.

But being that far out, we're further from help

if anything goes wrong.

oh. Finally!

Bam! The old girl's got some power.

oh, yeah.

What's the matter?

captions paid for by discovery communications

Yee-hoo.

This ocean floor is shifting like crazy.

It's something you've just got to work with and adapt to.

Having this plane gives me a big edge over the competition.

Yee-haw.

I got to scope out some pretty cool ground.

I was able to see some nice trenches.

The way the seafloor is changing,

it looked like from the air it had never been touched.

I'm gonna move the myrtle to find out,

and if I'm right, it's gonna be harvest time.

Woo-hoo.

Hey!

Tie it off.

We're moving.

Alright, you weasels, pull that spot.

Two miles east of nome...

Get that dog in right now, get it.

Is it moving?

Good to go.

...Ken kerr and the myrtle irene are on the move...

Backing right into our hole there,

going right where I want it to go, just about.

...Looking to test an ancient beach line

the captain discovered from above.

Hopefully this new spot I found from the air

is gonna keep me right on top.

Good!

time to go to work.

The old myrtle's back at it again.

Let's move this baby into some gold.

What we're looking for is a sweet spot.

Black cobble, hard as a rock.

It's like digging asphalt.

Ken's attempting to mine the most ounces

in a single summer in nome's history.

But from this point on,

he'll need to kick it into high gear to pull it off.

Look at that.

Look at that a lot of cobble.

Yeah, baby.

That's the money bucket.

That sun is bright.

There, that's better. Whoo.

Today's all about mining, dig, dig, dig.

We've got to make sure this new spot is loaded with gold.

Deep water here.

The myrtle's like the goose that laid the golden egg.

Got to love it.

Hold on, cowboy.

I've got to look in the sluice box.

Idler down.

Hopefully there's some gold in this box.

Oh, yeah, perfect, look there.

That's what we're talking about.

It's looking good right in that corner.

While the sluice box is capturing gold

on the port side...

Well, this ain't good.

...Over on the starboard, it's a different story.

I see nothing in there.

It's almost like we're leaning too far this way.

Like, if we were leaning that way, it would be better off.

I can guarantee we're losing some gold.

I wonder if we need to pump that water

onto the other side.

This is our port forward right here.

We're gonna pump some water down in there

off our starboard bow, into our port bow.

Get this barge lifting towards the port side.

The port side's the left side by the way.

The myrtle irene is listing and losing gold.

So the crew will pump water

from the ballast tank on the starboard side

to the opposite tank on the port side

to keep the myrtle on the level.

Looking good.

Alright, here we go.

Mining's constant adjustments, constant fine tuning.

We learn as we go.

While ken fights to get back on track,

10 miles west...

Wah.

On the move.

...Ken's bering sea rival is full steam ahead.

When the tide's out, you move deeper.

After getting off to a late start,

captain shawn pomrenke is looking to capitalize

on a gift from mother nature,

a swath of potentially rich ground

uncovered by the shifting seafloor...

We're gonna go to ground we can't usually reach.

...And now is suddenly reachable at low tide.

My main focus right now is to get as much gold as I can,

keep this plant running.

With a 2,000-ounce goal to pay off his debts

and end the season in the black,

he's still facing an uphill battle.

Come on, baby.

To get the debt paid off

and get back to work on the mega dredge,

if I'm gonna make any profit at all,

I've got to pull in over $1.3 million this year.

right now I'm seeing what kind of reach I can get...

...And if the tide's out far enough

to go out past where we've been.

The tide is on shawn's side.

The clock's ticking as high waters will return

in less than six hours.

Diggy-diggy.

oh.

Now we're in nothing but pure sand.

All of a sudden, you hear the ground change.

I don't want to run dirt without gold in it.

Let's take a test pan.

19 years ago was the first time I dove on the tonka.

There's nobody else in nome that knows that ground

better than I do.

But with everything changing,

it's like starting all over again.

Sometimes it hides in the gravel,

sometimes it hides on the clay.

Sometimes it's under the clay.

It's like a really fun game of hide-and-seek.

I was always good at hide-and-seek.

I like to win.

Not a whole lot of heavies.

A couple of smalls, but you've got to get a different sample,

maybe a little deeper.

The perfect spot is still eluding him.

If he can't zero in on pay dirt soon,

shawn will be out of his depth.

That stuff was a little loose, a little light.

But 5 feet over this way and 5 feet over that way,

we can be right next to 1,000 ounces

and not even know it.

It's here somewhere.

We've just got to keep taking big chunks of ground out.

it's getting better.

This is feeling like a good sample here.

There should be some gold in there.

But I've said that before.

And it has the smell.

It smells like money.

Yeah.

sometimes you've got to just look for it a little bit harder.

Ooh, oh, I see you already.

There you go.

That's some chunkier stuff there.

That's what I was looking for.

You're not that good at hide-and-seek.

Let's fire it up.

Let's start putting some dirt through it.

We're gonna dig until the tide comes back in.

We'll show ken what's up.

Oh, yeah!

Coming up...

I don't give a about safety right now.

I want to work.

Good luck.

You're breathing really hard. Relax for a second.

What's the matter?

In nome's small boat harbor...

Okay, away.

It's gonna be a great day.

We're gonna get out there