Gold Rush

.

In the Klondike...

OK, give me some.

..Parker's 2,000-ounce season gold is within reach.

The gold's in the ground, we just need to get it through the plant

before we're froze outta here.

But as winter hits, his crew mounts a rebellion.

Everyone's wore out. I don't know what the (BLEEP) going on!

Our backs have been broken.

And when the big freeze wreaks havoc...

Stop the plant!

..his season comes to an abrupt end.

I don't think it's worth fighting,

let's hope we got our 160 ounces in the box.

For the Hoffman crew...

We gotta get 1,000 ounces. Period. That's just the way it is.

..despite finding good gold...

Woo!

..they fail to impress their claim owner.

Will you stick with us? No.

And for Tony Beets, after six months of back-breaking work...

It's all hooked up. Good.

..when his big moment arrives...

It's time to let the water in.

..it turns into a shipwreck.

Get outta the way, this is serious. How do you like that?

Scribner Creek, the Klondike.

As the mining season draws to a close,

Parker Schnabel and his crew confront an old enemy -

the Yukon winter.

Been a fun morning.

Shut down about 7 o'clock this morning when we do a shift change,

so we were down for about an hour.

In that hour's time, the plant froze solid.

There's so much ice on the valves, we can't open or close 'em.

We've had to bust the ice off.

Come on, girl, shake it off.

I think the Yukon's saying it's time to shut down.

Parker is just 160 ounces short

of his 2,000 ounce, $2.4 million gold,

but time is running out.

We've got a good amount of gold to find,

and we need to get it through the plant before we're froze outta here.

Parker's crew is running main pay from the Berm Island,

and it's the best dirt they've run all season,

and puts them within striking distance of their goal.

But after a gruelling six month mining season,

Parker's men are burned out and ready to head south.

We're tired. We're exhausted.

Pretty ready to go home.

And it's just like, really? We're (BLEEP) still here doing this.

Open the gates of Guantanamo Bay, Yukon territory,

Let us out.

What the (BLEEP)?!

At the plant, the freezing temperatures have had

a devastating effect on Parker's water system.

Great. This damn thing's frozen too, it won't budge.

Hey! Chris!

I mean, the valve just cracked open

and it's spraying water all over the place. Gonna have to shut her down.

Not the best day of the season, that's for sure.

I don't think it's worth fighting. We need to call it.

That's it, huh? Yeah. All right.

Let's see what we've got.

I figured this day might come but I really didn't expect it.

Hey, Rick. Yeah, go ahead.

Man, the wash plant is screwed, I'm calling it.

Holy (BLEEP), really?

Yeah, let's hope we got 160 ounces in the box and we're done.

You guys hear him? We're outta here, Greg.

OK, give me some.

We really need this to hit our 2,000 mark now.

For sure.

Think it's in here?

Certainly hope so.

Wow!

I mean, that's looking darned good right there.

Whoa!

It looks good. Looks real good.

Yeah. No kidding. (BLEEP)

There's some nice gold in this clean out.

I don't know if it's good enough, but it looks pretty good.

A lot of good size pickers in here.

Look at that, there's probably 50 more in there just like that,

plus who knows what the fine gold looks like.

Be nice to get over 2,000, you know, to succeed our goal.

Let's finish good, finish right. Finish, get ready to go home.

Have a lot of confidence, a lot of hope in this clean up right here.

All right, so this is like the last supper, huh?

We pack her up tomorrow?

There's gotta be a reason for a party. Who needs a beer?

To hit his 2,000-ounce goal, Parker needs another 160 ounces.

So this clean-out...

..that only brought us to 1,940.

A hundred ounces? Plus...

Uh oh, here it comes. Holy Moses! Ho!

Which brings us to... 2,060.

Bam! (LAUGHS)

Yeah, 2,000 ounces, buddy. All the way across the table, buddy.

The 220-ounce clean-up brings their gold total to 2,060 ounces,

worth $2.47 million.

Parker's crew has smashed their goal,

with more than twice the gold they got last season.

Then why did you call?

Truth is, you guys have done a hell of a job, you know,

and I'd like to thank you all for that.

I do know that you guys have put in a hell of a long season,

but we've got a little bit of work to do,

a little reclamation and some clean-up work.

Let's get back to our families. Here's to you guys.

Good job, you know. Good job.

I know we got good ground; that main pay was good, but you guys did it.

West...

..at McKinnon Creek, the Hoffmans are poised to redeem themselves.

Got 936 ounces.

Come hell or high water, we're gonna get 1,000.

They are just 64 ounces short of their thousand ounce gold.

But the only thawed pay dirt Andy has left is the access ramp

into the higher cut.

This is the last of our pay dirt in our higher cut,

so hopefully this dirt's got in it what we need to get to 1,000.

It's been a long season, but we're getting close.

There's gold in that there sluice box.

That's it, Kev, you're done. Take it to the plant.

Roger that.

Todd, this is Andy, do you copy?

Yeah, I got a copy.

Hey, Todd, we just loaded the last little bit of pay dirt

out of the higher cut. That's it, we're done.

Are you sure you got every nook and cranny out of there, huh?

We've scraped everything that's in that cut to scrape.

There's no more pay dirt in that;

we've scraped every frozen piece we could find everywhere. It's done.

Ah, 10-4. 10-4.

Dude, we're knocking at the door of 1,000 ounces, and we need it.

For us to come back next year, we gotta get 1,000 ounces. Period.

That's just the way it is.

Jack loads the last of the pay into the plant,

and the Hoffman crew shuts down Monster Red for this season.

So this is our final mat pull. You know what?

Hopefully we got enough in here; it's gonna be touch and go.

They've mined over $1 million in gold this season,

but their target is $1.2 million.

I'm feeling nervous.

We've never been in reach like this, where this clean-up could do it.

Jack begins the final clean-up.

With another 64 ounces, the Hoffman crew will hit their goal

for the first time ever.

I'll tell you what, after last season

I didn't think anybody would wanna take another risk with me on this.

You guys did it. We didn't give up on the gold mining dream.

I'm proud. Proud to be part of this team,

and you guys need to be proud of what we did. Every one of you.

And guess what? If it's possible, we're gonna come back

and we're gonna do it even better next year.

That's gotta be Peter.

The claim owner, Peter Tallman,

arrives to collect his cut of the gold.

Hey, Todd. How you doing, buddy?

You guys knew that we got 936.

There it is. Guys, we needed 64 ounces...

We got 99.

Good job, guys. Yes!

The Hoffmans season total is 1,035 ounces,

worth well over $1.2 million.

Yeah!

For the first time in five years,

Todd and his crew have finally hit their goal.

They've pulled more gold out of the ground

than all of their previous seasons combined.

Awesome. Yeah!

Peter, after last year not many guys would take a chance with us,

and you did, and here you go, here's your cut;

and we're thankful, we really are. Yeah! Great, man.

Todd, that's not good enough.

It's not good enough by quite a way.

We had projections of you guys doing a substantial amount more

than what you've done. I'm really sorry.

This is a disappointment. Good night, gentlemen.

.

.

McKinnon Creek. The mining season is over;

the Hoffman crew packs for the long journey home.

You know what? You never know when you start a season

how it's gonna end but I never thought it would end like this.

Feels like we came up short.

But their leader refuses to call it quits.

At this point in time I'm in limbo,

and I don't know really where I stand now with Peter.

He has the ability, if he doesn't believe in us, to kick us off,

and I don't want that.

Todd confronts Peter Tallman at his office in Dawson City.

Peter. Hey, Todd.

We need to talk. What happened the other night?

I was just disappointed and I had to walk away.

Pretty much anybody could come in here with the production equipment

and crew you've built and get 1,000 ounces,

but you have to achieve much more gold.

I just feel like we deserve another chance;

another shot at this next year. Will you stick with us?