Bering Sea Gold

Narrator: Nome, alaska.

The race for summer gold is kicking into high gear.

Heading towards the east, honing in on this pay streak.

Narrator: The captains of the dredging fleet...

Shawn: I'm the one that has to provide for everybody.

If I don't go out and do my job, everybody hurts.

Narrator: With great power...

We're about to try the diesel.

...Comes great responsibility.

If I don't make this happen, I'm letting down everyone.

This is what 250 horse sounds like.

Yeah! Today, I want to put a lot more gold in the box.

I'm really putting all of my reputation

And my skills on the line here.

Everyone's looking at me for their cut of the gold.

Narrator: Uneasy lies the head that runs the dredge...

If I risk my future and my mom's future on this,

If the kellys are ever gonna be successful,

This is the season.

Narrator: ...And the pressure is on.

I'm gonna be a rock star, baby.

This is what it's all about.

Captions paid for by discovery communications

Narrator: In a summer of gambling,

One of the biggest bets of the season

Is about to hit the water.

Oh, that's awesome. It's coming together.

We got everybody working together.

Everybody's got their own little chore.

They've all got a list. They know what they're doing.

Narrator: In a matter of hours, the bering sea will meet

The biggest suction dredge in its history.

-So this is the last one? -Yeah, that's it.

let's do it.

Narrator: Enter the high noon,

A massive 25-by-50-foot beast

With over 70 feet of sluice box,

Unheard of 12-inch suction nozzle

And a turbo-charged 250-horsepower engine.

Probably the biggest, nicest dredge

To launch in the last couple years I know of.

$400,000-plus into this boat in less than three years,

And it's all my money.

Narrator: At the helm, 34-year-old veteran miner,

Derek mcclarty.

I showed up in nome in 2004,

And I thought I had everything figured out.

But you can't just come up here

And be like, "oh, I'm gonna go to nome.

I'm gonna go gold mining."

You have to pay a little bit of your dues.

Narrator: For derek...

I'm clear. Go for it!

...Paying his dues has gone from the lazy gator...

Hold that.

Take this boat... To the eroica...

And see how it does without a crew.

...To the wild ranger.

You direct the show out here.

I'll talk to you through the door.

Sounds good. I'll watch it.

Derek: Huddle up.

Now, after spending his life savings...

We'll back her up towards the ramp.

We'll stop. We'll look at it.

We'll talk about it a little bit more

Before we jump in the water.

...Derek's making the jump from crewman to captain.

Derek: You got to live your own life,

And what I wanted in my life was more adventure.

So I got rid of my house, sold everything I owned,

And put it towards this dredge.

And now I'm flat-broke.

Everybody told me I was crazy,

But this is my dream.

And I don't let anybody else's opinion of what my dream is

Hinder where I'm going.

Narrator: The dream?

Setting the new standard in dredging.

Derek: The high noon means two things --

It's a showdown.

And then the noon represented a 12.

So it's a 12-inch suction dredge...

Hey, don't forget to kick-start it.

[ imitates engine turning over ]

See, the 12-inch, to me,

It's just the natural progression

Because you just look at

The history of suction dredging in nome.

Four-inch dredge, then it went up.

Somebody built a six.

And then an eight-inch.

Well, then somebody built a 10-inch dredge.

Why did this progression stop?

Oh, man.

I'm pretty nervous, but I'm cool with this.

This is gonna go well.

It has to.

Narrator: While derek preps to launch,

Six miles to the west...

On the christine rose...

Come on.

I want to find the mother lode.

Narrator: Mr. Gold, shawn pomrenke,

Is back on the hunt.

Shawn: I want to do 100 ounces in a day.

Hell, I want to do 100 ounces in an hour.

It pays to prospect.

Narrator: After scratching out

A 77-ounce, $92,000 first cleanup...

Shawn: See what the hell's down here.

Narrator: ...Shawn has spent the last 5 hours

Trying to get back on pay dirt.

Gold's not everywhere out there.

It's in concentrated, little pockets,

And those spots are getting smaller and smaller.

So I'm spending way more time prospecting than I am mining.

I like an ounce an hour.

That's how we've grown this business to where it's gotten,

And I'm not gonna settle for anything less.

I don't like it.

Gonna keep on moving, keep on panning.

I'll find it.

It's just getting harder and harder to find.

Right now, the only thing making this company money is this --

Me, right here, out here on the bering sea

With the christine rose.

Otherwise, dad's just spending it

As fast as I can make it.

Narrator: For more than a year...

Are you in on the inland mining or out?

Narrator: ...Shawn's old man, steve,

Has spent all their profits

On a new inland mining operation.

They looked like a good deal,

So we're getting them.

Narrator: Now...

Sometimes, just, the way he operates

Scares the hell out of me.

Narrator: ...The family business is paycheck-to-paycheck.

Shawn: I'm out here.

I got to take care of all the guys that work for us,

And he don't seem to care about that too much.

There's a lot of people that count on us

To take care of them.

I mean, we provide for the whole family.

Right now, I'm the one wearing the shoes,

And he's kind of riding second to me.

And I think dad wants to fill those shoes again.

Narrator: As sole provider for the company...

Come on, come on.

Narrator: ...Shawn has to keep the dredge on gold 24 hours a day.

Shawn: Oh-ho-ho,

That's what I'm talking about.

That's why we prospect.

That's a good pan there.

That's 25 ounces a day right there.

Game on!

¶¶

It's time to dig!

We're gonna make some gold today!

Whoo!

Didn't find the mother lode.

I found the father lode.

It all goes to my father.

Narrator: 37 miles to the east...

...At the reaper...

We're going out today.

The first prospecting day of our new claims.

This is gonna be awesome today.

I'm telling you. We're gonna kill it.

Narrator: ...The fightin' kellys are kicking off

Their summer dredging adventure.

This isn't gonna be easy by any means.

This is gonna be a hard-core mission,

Uphill both ways,

And we got to fight everybody that I know.

Right, dad?

Good.

Narrator: After gambling 10,000 bucks.

On untouched mining grounds far outside town,

Brad and his sons

Are heading out to put their eyes on their prize.

We got everything invested in this.

It's got to pay off for us this season.

It just has to.

I put a lot of my own money into this buying claims,

Hoping they're gonna pay off.

This could be a big deal for us.

This could change our life.

We don't really know until we get down there though.

Narrator: Getting down there is another story.

We got about two miles

Before we meet the mouth of the ocean,

And then about another two miles back

So we can get to our claim.

It's all gonna be worth it.

All of this risk, it's gonna be worth the reward.

We just got to get out there and make this happen right now.

Narrator: With no boat launch this far from town,