Bering Sea Gold

Narrator: Nome, alaska.

Vernon: Harbor's freezing up.

There's accumulating dust on the hills.

It's just about over.

Narrator: With the end of the summer mining season looming...

Yep, it's thick.

...The fleet's golden gambles...

This is the make or break.

...Are on the line.

If you don't make enough money to ante up the next season,

Then you've failed.

Emily: Every day is some kind of different type of battle.

What I'm trying to do up here is endure and conquer.

Narrator: While some crews struggle just to stay in the game...

Vernon: You don't really fail until you quit.

And I'm not quitting.

The boat is locked and cocked

And ready to rock.

Narrator: ...For a die-hard few...

Well, you know how you make a small fortune mining,

Don't you?

Narrator: ...It's time to go all in...

Man: What?

You start with a large fortune.

...Because it's never too late...

Start banging some ice, amos.

Let's get out that sluice box.

No, I'm gonna run every damn minute I can

Until something stops me.

Narrator: ...To hit the mother lode.

-Oh, my god. -Yeah. Yeah.

-Oh, my. -Whoo!

Captions paid for by discovery communications

Narrator: 100 miles east of nome...

Shawn: We're here, finally.

Nobody's ever touched this ground out here

In the bering sea.

It's virgin ground, fresh ground, never touched.

We're the only ones out here for miles and miles.

Narrator: Captain shawn pomrenke is finally chasing his dream...

Pretty excited, pretty nervous.

Lots of different emotions.

You can see the bluffs out to our west here.

Narrator: ...Bringing his million-dollar mega dredge

Far from the safety of town

To a claim known as "the bluff."

Well, we're here, boys.

Cody: Pretty cool being all the way down here

With the christine rose, man.

This is definitely the farthest the christine rose

Has ever been away from nome by a long shot.

Yeah, 10-4.

We'll start on the east side of the claims,

And start prospecting our way

Down to where we were diving this winter.

Yeah, that sounds like a plan to me.

Narrator: Six months ago...

Shawn: Well, we're coming into the bluffs here.

..."mr. Gold: Became the first

To prospect the bluff in more than a century.

It's a blizzard out here right now.

And despite impossible conditions...

Yeah.

...He found traces of good gold.

Now, after pulling just 300 ounces

Out of off-shore nome,

He's come back to collect his fortune.

Shawn: I mean, there's only a few weeks left.

The ocean's freezing.

The season's coming to an end.

If I don't get out there this year,

Then I'm gonna be sitting and wondering,

"what if?" all winter.

And I don't want to be sitting, wondering, "what if?"

Shawn: I believe this is the spot that

There was a bunch of mining done right up here.

Right here is where the claims start.

We're gonna start at the first claim

And start working our way towards the bluff.

Hey, cody.

I think, this will be a good spot to start prospecting.

Drop this anchor this over-off

And then, uh, start taking some pans.

Sounds good, man.

Hopefully we find some color. I'm stoked.

I'm looking for the next big thing.

I want to move to the next level.

Tomcod's drying up.

And if I'm gonna keep the christine rose on top,

I got to go find that new hot spot.

If I don't do it, somebody else will.

Whoo, made it.

Hopefully I can sniff it out and prove my dad wrong.

Narrator: Shawn isn't the only pomrenke

Looking for a gamble to pay off big.

100 miles away...

I haven't heard one single word from them guys.

Narrator: ...At steve pomrenke's 5-acre, inland mining claim.

Steve: I'm under a lot of pressure

To get 500 ounces out of this hole

By the end of the year here.

Narrator: The old man's pricey new operation

Is in a race against mother nature.

We got ice on the deck.

We got ice on the pond.

We got ice on the lakes.

And it's getting colder out here.

We're on our bitter end here.

But we're gonna try and sneak another 4 or 5 days

Out of this here yet.

Narrator: With nearly a million bucks invested

And only $200,000 in gold so far,

Steve needs to make every second count.

I'm still looking to pull 500 ounces out of this

Before it freezes.

Pretty damn scary, you talk about stress.

I'm stressing right now.

Narrator: 500 ounces isn't the only thing steve is stressing over.

There's also the matter of his prodigal son.

Steve: He's been gone for three days.

I don't know if they're sunk,

If they're dead, if they're alive.

Narrator: With the inland mining producing,

To steve, shawn's bluff dream is just a waste of time.

Bigger risk is going to the bluff with that boat.

Well, the worst fear is somebody sinking

And getting drowned or whatever.

That would be the worst thing.

And the second worst thing would be the boat

Laying on the ocean floor out there somewhere.

Had to go to bluff. He had to go to bluff.

But in reality, that's a $100,000 trip.

It's important to shawn

Because he is looking for new ground.

But by god,

He needs to look some place where it's accessible,

That has some common sense to it, not just an adventure.

Open up the flapper and see what we got under there.

You can see it already right over on that side, man.

Look at all that gold.

It's impressive.

That's what we're working for.

That's why we're working in this weather.

Narrator: While steve fights against the coming freeze,

10 miles to the south on the all in.

Vernon: I'm getting that golden tingle right now.

Narrator: ...Captain vernon adkison

Is fighting just to stay in business.

Right now, it's just about over.

So we got to take every opportunity

To get as much gold in the box as we possibly can.

Vernon: We only got another few days left in the season.

It's pretty darn tense

Because any time you put

A new piece of equipment in the water,

You're gonna have a lot of bugs.

Narrator: This summer...

Vernon: It's not good. Sub dredge weigh 5,000 pounds.

These beams will not support it.

Narrator: ...Vernon's gamble on

A quarter-million-dollar sub dredge

Has hit setback...

No!

...After setback.

Look, look.

Oh .

Vernon: That put a lot of pressure,

A lot of stress on me, personally.

I mean, financial stress.

Narrator: But now...

We're on the gold.

So everybody ought to be happy.

Narrator: For the first time this season,

The dredge has been pumping material

For over 12 hours straight.

Vernon: We don't need a diver.

We're doing it without the diver today.

Narrator: And with the clock ticking...

I'm a little on edge right now.

...Vernon isn't the only one needing results.

There's only so much you can expect out of people.

I mean, they're doing it in the hope of getting gold,

And they know if I make it, they're gonna make it.

Narrator: The dredge's manufacturer is also looking to get paid.

Vernon: I got the sub dredge on speculation,

And there was a percentage of the gold share involved

To pay for this thing.

So far, we haven't gotten very much gold with it.

If we can get one good, solid clean up,

That's what I need to keep me going.

Vernon: Overall, it seems to be doing pretty darn good down there.

We're putting a lot of material through the box.

Oh, man. I think we got a plug.

We got no material.

Man: Looks like we're plugged.

Narrator: A plug in the hose means pay dirt

Can't make it all the way to the sluice box.

Yeah, bobby, uh, looks like we got a plug, buddy.

Every time we have a plug up or a jam, it costs me.

We have to send a diver down and clear it