Bering Sea Gold

A lot of people come to nome

Looking for a new beginning.

Gold miners know what it's like to start over.

There's only so much time.

You only get so many chances.

When it's time to do or die, you better make it count.

So far this winter,

The thin, unstable ice shelf is holding.

But as the clock ticks,

The miners are facing a new reality.

There are more days behind them than ahead.

There's no more time to wait for conditions to improve.

No time for lengthy moves or for crew changes.

No time to prospect.

So now, each miner needs to lock in their game plan

And hope to ride it to the end.

Captions paid for by discovery communications

I'm gonna go see with my own eyes what's down there.

Shawn pomrenke is a miner on a mission.

Gonna go check out this hole emily says there's no gold in.

We'll see about that.

That spot with the coordinates you sent us,

We just didn't find anything that was paying.

That doesn't sound like right.

After emily riedel struck out on shawn's

Can't miss coordinates at the todcod...

There's definitely gold in that area.

I mean, you know, things change, bottom changes.

...Mr. Gold's been determined to prove her wrong.

I know there's gold in the area.

I didn't give her any bogus coordinates.

All to make sure

He's not on a million dollar wild sluice chase

As he works to pay off the pricey claim.

Emily claims there's no gold out here.

Well, that's emily.

I got these drill logs when I started paying on the tomcod.

They're supposed to put me right on the hot spot.

I mean, if these real logs are wrong,

Then I'm mining blind over hundreds of acres.

If I have to spend my whole ice season prospecting,

And I'll never be able to buy the tomcod.

But proving the drill logs

Is not the captain's only worry.

Ice is getting horrible all kinds of overflow on it,

Water on top of the ice.

It could go out at any time.

I don't think there was ice.

There was overflow at that spot just a little bit ago.

I hate making a move this late in the season,

But I have to know. I have to go check it out.

Very good right here, though.

This is right where we want to be.

About time to get suited up.

Pump check's in place, sluice box's in place.

Like it.

I'm gonna go get my suit on, time to get in the water,

See what it looks like.

Here we go. Going diving.

Over the next five years,

$1.6 million I need to come up with

To pay for this claim.

A lot of coin to come up with.

And this claim's been paying for years.

And did it just run out? I don't think so.

There'll be much more gold down here.

Let's see, the old man's still got it.

If you want it done right, you better do it yourself.

On the bottom.

There's a lot of rock here.

Nice. Are you seeing where emily was?

Yeah, I can see right where emily was and...

They only moved a little bit of dirt.

That gives you an easy start.

Yeah, this might be a good place to just start

And go from there, huh?

All right, go ahead...

Roger.

Are you out in the cobbler or in the sand?

Sand. Great.

Wow, it's all turning to rock

Out in front of us here.

What what kind of rock, rock overbird or...

Um, yeah.

And then it turns to clay.

Not seeing a whole lot of gold yet.

Let's go this way.

15 miles east...

After one of the most epic meltdowns

In kelly family history...

Well, I've had enough of your !

This whole .

you, yellow-bellied punk.

I've had enough.

Captain kris is back to work alone

At the start of the day.

I'm not going anywhere. I'm not quitting.

This is my operation.

I'm the one that works hard to put this all together.

I pay for everything. I don't want to be an arrogant .

I just would like a little cooperation in my life

To try to get gold for everybody.

They didn't chip this out

Worth a hell last night.

With less than half the season remaining,

It'll be a mad dash to get the ounces needed

To rent the turnkey boat of the captain's dreams.

I don't want to get into a fight every single day.

I want to go and make gold.

I just don't want to feel like I'm doing this myself.

So yesterday was a bad day, you know, we had a big fight,

Everybody's against me and I took off, you know,

Like, that's a terrible move on my part to do.

But I did it.

But, you know, like I didn't

I don't know what to do at this point.

My dad and brother, they don't want to do anything.

They don't want me to do it.

They don't want they just don't want it to work.

I got my eye on the prize and we know what we have

To do this season and time's a-wasting.

We've got to get this done.

Just chip another hole.

Everybody has problems every single day.

It's what you do next that counts.

Do you see me quitting?

What's going on, jay, I thought you quit yesterday.

No, good morning. I'm not quitting.

You know, it just feels like

Sometimes everybody just doesn't really care.

No, we care, but it's wintertime,

Man, it's cold. It's harsh. It's tough out here.

And I don't want to work with anybody but you two.

And I know you've been doing a lot of work.

And andy's been doing his share.

I've been slacking a little. I'm not gonna say I haven't.

So I'll put more work, more effort into it.

Hey, you know, I need you out here, man.

You're my brother.

I don't mean to be stressed and pushing hard,

It is minus-20, minus-30 with that wind chill.

-I know. -If we don't get things

Going fast, we'll just be the three

standing around all the time.

Well, let's get going

And let's get under the water and make our gold.

Then we'll make this work no matter what.

-Fine, jj, go to work. -Let's go.

I love you and I'm sorry.

I'm not quitting this whole thing.

Yeah, everything's fine. Where's the chipper at, dude?

Chipper's right here.

We're a team, we're gonna do this together,

We are, no matter what happens.

We're gonna always stick together.

It shocked me when I seen kris out here,

But it made me feel good.

I'm really glad we're back on the same page,

But really we have a lot of work to do.

We're falling behind.

The only way we're gonna make this work

Is if we're on the gold 24/7.

Okay, come on, let's get everything going.

I'm in a rush.

Let's rock and roll.

Kris, I'm gonna do the first dive today.

Are you sure?

How long has it been since your last dive?

-Five years. -Five years, huh?

Do you think you can handle it?

This isn't diving. This is ice diving.

You know, I don't really need you to kill yourself.

-I'm not gonna kill myself. -Yeah.

I'll get you gold. Don't worry. I'm a gold finder.

He's gonna be impressed.

Yeah, well, if you last 10 minutes, I'll be shocked.

I'm gonna shock you, jay, okay?

Yeah, okay, shock me.

It's gonna be a shock and awe day.

You're gonna go, what the ?

My dad did that? -Watch.

Now, my dad's saying he wants to dive is basically saying

That he wants to make good, but we can't mess around.

This isn't the dude ranch

Where everybody gets the chance to go diving.

No, we're here to make money.

We need quality time on the box

And dad needs to live through it.

Hold your arms straight out.

Make sure you don't get your air line

Wrapped around anything or I can't save you.

Don't worry. I won't.

-There you go. -Okay, that's good.

Just try to last as long as you can,

Don't get yourself into a dangerous situation,

And make sure you have enough energy to get yourself

Out of any problem.

Trust me, I have a problem, I'll have enough energy.

No, any kind of fear, I get insane amounts

Of adrenaline and I get pumped up.