Bering Sea Gold

Shawn: We're building an empire up here.

It ain't going to be easy.

But most things in life worth having

don't come easy.

When you're spread this thin,

a little bad luck could bring the whole thing crashing down.

That's going down. I can see the water.

Oh, . Oh, my god.

Vernon: Gold mining is emblematic of

nobody's giving you anything,

nobody cuts you a break up here at all.

But if you stick to it, you can reap some good rewards.

It's all you. You've got this one opportunity.

If there's nothing in the mats, then we'll have to call it.

I understand.

Derek: Ice mining is my hell.

You're exhausted mentally, physically,

and that's where the just mental fortitude comes in.

I mean, you really have to just

keep your head on straight and just focus.

Spenser!

Spenser!

captions paid for by discovery communications

narrator: Off the frozen coast of nome, alaska,

a once-in-a-lifetime chance to mine virgin ground

is causing a modern-day gold rush.

But while the ice miners dream of striking it rich,

mr. Gold has an even loftier goal --

to build an empire.

We've come a long way and we've done good,

but if you're not growing, you're dying.

Narrator: Down at the harbor...

Shawn: Well, there's the tuvli.

It's pretty damn old, that's for sure.

Yeah, but we like old junk.

Shawn pomrenke is setting in motion

plans to rule the bering sea by building

a multimillion-dollar mega dredge.

Cody: We ever going to stop expanding this business

or we just keep getting bigger every year,

like growing and growing?

Shawn: Cody, I got some big plans on the horizon, buddy.

Narrator: So far this season,

he's purchased a $200,000 barge

that will act as the base for the dredge.

Shawn: This is the one tool that I see that

we would need to get that gold out of that ground.

Narrator: And today...

Shawn: This is going to be the tender

narrator: He's scouting a possible tugboat to suppor

I've been building this barge in my head for years,

and when it's done,

it's going to produce millions of dollars worth of gold.

That's a lot of big pieces

and a lot of money to put it together,

but it's a legacy for the pomrenkes.

This is a pretty big support vessel.

Shawn: I think it'll haul like 90,000 pounds.

Narrator: Shawn's hoping the giant tuvli will fit the bill

shawn: It's here in nome. That's the biggest thing.

That's a very important piece to the whole puzzle.

When this big dredge gets done,

it's going to be out on the ocean for weeks on end

and I need the tuvli for hauling fuel,

setting anchors, bringing parts out.

It's going to get used a lot.

This is the wheelhouse up here?

Yeah. Let's check it out.

It's like a little mini crab boat.

Oh, it's got a lot of nice electronics in here.

Got it all.

Finally get out deeper.

We'll get out to that deeper water.

Get that gold that the christine rose can't touch.

I'm getting excited.

There's a lot of gold left out there

and I'm going to be the one to get it.

All of it.

That's why we got everybody out on 38

prospecting for us, but we don't have to

go out there and search for the gold.

We already know where it's at.

We'll let 'em dig it up, dig a little bit of it up,

and then we'll go out there and clean it all up.

Destroy it all. Kill it.

We started with nothing.

We started begging and borrowing

and grabbing whatever we could

and we used old junk to build the christine rose

and went out and made millions.

This thing ain't for sale anymore.

No, bro.

Narrator: With one swift move,

another $400,000 goes into shawn's ambitious plan.

It's a big buy. Done deal.

But with even more of his fortune

now tied to the project,

everything will need to fire on all cylinders,

or mr. Gold could find himself right back where he started.

Shawn: Those boys better get some gold out on 38.

Narrator: Ten miles west,

on claim 38...

I think that's the spot.

A familiar face is returning to the ice.

Everything in one piece, man. We're here.

We got the gear here. Life is good.

Narrator: Captain derek mclarty and the high noon are back.

Better late than never.

Derek: All right, step one -- get gold gear out there.

Step two -- get gold.

Well, tract 38's a lot like any of the land

that's out here that hasn't been prospected or looked at,

and it's a wildcard.

I'm just praying that all the dominoes line up.

Woo! Now we just got to get on some gold.

Narrator: For years, derek made his name

in nome as a jack of all trades.

Derek: I'm betting I could not fix a nuclear reactor,

but it's only 'cause I've never seen one.

Go for it.

Hold that.

I've done all kinds of different work

for a multitude of different classifications of miners.

thank you, derek. Congratulations.

Narrator: But last summer...

Derek: Probably the biggest, nicest dredge to launch

in the last couple years I know of.

Narrator: He made the jump from deckhand to captain,

sinking every penny he had into a superdredge...

God bless america, god bless this dredge.

Let's make a lot of money this season.

He christened the high noon.

Are you going to show me 80?

And while he didn't reach the tax bracket

he was aiming for...

79.6.

He did scrape together enough to keep the operation

going into the winter.

That right there is the first taste of real success.

But this season...

I got this fancy pants camera.

I kind of want to see what the bottom is.

Any gold he finds will carry added weight.

That's big cobble.

As if there's not, like,

20 million things already on your mind

when you're ice mining, I'm gold mining for my mom.

You know, she's got cancer again,

and if I could write her a check

and pay off her house so I know that the years

that she has that are probably short are sweet,

I would do anything to do that, anything.

This going on okay?

Narrator: Derek is hoping claim 38'll

good. We're cooking. That's that.

Little bit of alignment, tighten a couple bolts.

Get in the water. Make some money.

Narrator: And he's brought in friend

and veteran miner spenser mccleskey

to help try to rake it in.

Derek: Spenser's a very good worker.

He's 50 percent of my operation.

I can't do it without him.

Oh. I think I can hear it.

Ah.

And we've got water.

I've got a real good feeling about today.

Narrator: But as derek readies for his first dive...

narrator: Something is rotten in the state of alaska.

Hey, are you okay over there, spenser?

Don't know if I got a tender, but now I can go diving.

I'm always concerned if my tender's not feeling good,

but he hasn't told me that he can't do his job.

Narrator: Despite a shaky tender left to man the operation

above the ice, with a deadline looming,

derek has no time to waste.

April 15'll be here before we know it.

We've got to get on the gold.

We've got to stay on the gold and get the whole season.

Derek: Yeah, we set up at the perfect spot.

Yeah, this is some good-looking hard pan.

This is that nice, rocky...

All right, spenser, whenever -- whenever you feel up to it,

go ahead and give me some throttle.

Narrator: Though things are looking good down below,

on the surface...

Narrator: Not so much.

Hey, spenser.

Ah, go hit the throttle up on the diesel.

All right, we've got blast off.

It's kind of beautiful.

Dope, smack on that gold.

Man, I'm really glad you're down there,

but, man, I'm having a really rough time.

Roger that.

There's some bomb-ass gold down here, buddy.

So, just keep that in mind

as long as you can grin and bear it.

Yeah, derek's down there making money.

I'm up here dying.