Hoffman Family Gold (2022) s02e11 Episode Script
Emptying the Tank
1
That's washpit dirt.
2.4 ounces per 100.
Todd's final gamble
proved a success.
That's pretty nice gold
right there.
But with
238 ounces to go
We're gonna need
a monster week.
and temperatures
rapidly dropping
The pay dirt's
actually starting to freeze up
in the morning.
the Hoffmans
need to mine
as much Lost Cut pay
as possible.
Mining about
240 yards an hour right now
so that's pretty hot.
Can Todd and
the crew burn through dirt
That's the biggest nugget
we've found since
we've been at this mine.
Or will they
get stuck in the mud?
Cub, is your
is your truck starting?
Well, what the ?
Did you hear that?
It just shut off.
-Well, .
Something's really,
really wrong.
The trommel's
not spinning.
Looks like
my luck's run out on this.
So, we're running out
of time.
It's getting cold.
Frost is here.
And, uh, how's that pay
coming out of there, Tater?
Frozen.
Scratched everything
we could find.
Okay.
Both plants are running
the Lost Cut.
But it's got
a lot of water in it,
so the pay dirt's
actually starting
to freeze up in the mornings.
Once the pay dirt freezes,
there won't be much
we can do about it.
It gets hard like concrete.
We're gonna have to work
through the night,
and we're already tired,
stretched thin, but
gonna run the last pay we got.
Yeah.
And it might be
closing out our season.
Let's be honest.
We just gotta keep
digging dirt,
keep pushing the plants
as hard as we can
until everything freezes up,
then we're done.
All right, guys.
Good job, man.
Everybody hang in there.
We're coming down
the home stretch.
This is
the hardest part, right?
-Yeah.
-All right, let's get to work.
You get her?
-Yeah.
-Okay.
I got Ron out here
with me today
helping me look over
the Black Pearl.
-Okay?
-Yeah.
-Okay?
-Yeah.
Trying to give it
a good bill of health,
because I'm gonna try
to run it
for 12 hours today,
of the Lost Cut pay.
Everything looks fine.
We're not seeing any leaks.
We're not smelling anything
burning up.
Oh, look at that belt.
Oh, one slipped over,
I see.
Ooh.
That'll be a quick fix.
It'll take two seconds.
Luckily it's
a quick fix, but this is why,
you know, I'm taking
a little bit of extra time
to look everything over.
Cub, hang tight.
We're gonna fix a belt
so just stay
stay put for a second.
Okay.
Just take it right off.
The way this plant works is
you have the motor,
which has several rubber belts
on it that go to a tensioner,
which turn the big sprocket,
which turns the chain,
which turns the drum.
So even a little thing
like this
can cause a bigger issue,
and I'm glad
that we caught it.
All right.
Just sneak around there
without smearing it.
Yeah.
You wanna try roll her?
-Yeah. You ready?
-Yeah.
-Oh, you're going that way?
-Yeah, on the gutter.
-Yeah.
-There you go.
- Okay?
-Yeah, yeah.
All right,
I'm gonna suck her up.
Okay.
Right now we still need
238 more ounces.
The Lost Cut, it's paying
about 2.4 ounces per 100
which is really good.
So before it freezes up,
I'm gonna just run this plant
till there's no more pay left.
I'm gonna flip this guy on.
Go ahead and bring the water
all the way out.
Full speed on the pump.
I never thought
I would say this,
but we still have a chance
of beating the Holy Roller.
But at the end of the day
we're all on the same team.
All the gold
goes into the same pot.
I think every single person
on this team
deserves the win.
The old-timers
say that
once the sandhill cranes
go by,
you got 10 days
till you're snowed out.
That's about right.
Last year, once we saw
the sandhill cranes,
10 days later
we had two inches of snow
on the ground.
Weather at that point
starts dropping dramatically.
It doesn't
look like it outside,
but at night
it's getting real cold.
And we've been punching in
about 17-hour days
for six days a week,
and as the weeks go on,
you forget the little things
that you're supposed
to do every day.
Everybody has to stay focused.
Nobody can be off their game.
Everything has
to stay running.
The weather is approaching us,
the snow is in the mountains.
We need to hit that goal
and get out of here.
This town's
about to freeze over.
We're both getting gold,
really good pay dirt.
Ran probably 6,000 yards
between the two of us.
And it's one of those days
where you just think,
"Man, this day couldn't be
any more perfect."
Hey, guys, so far,
things are running smooth.
Oh, yeah.
I grew up
doing night shift.
But, I mean,
it's not for everybody.
It's hard to see.
But we gotta stay focused
on the 1,000-ounce goal.
So we're chugging along.
We all have a common goal,
it's to get 1,000 ounces.
So we just wanna speed that up
as much as possible.
Let's go.
So, our pay dirt's starting
to freeze up.
We got a little bit left.
We're just gonna
keep grinding.
We're gonna run it
till the end
and where we can't run
any more.
I wanna get my dad
so much gold
on that table
that he can barely handle it.
I'm ready to go.
Uh-oh.
My machine
is not starting.
Bunch of things
flashed on the computer.
It's definitely
something wrong.
Ron, Ron, Ron,
you got a copy?
Yeah, go ahead.
Hey, can you come
down here? Uh
I need you to check out
this excavator.
I've never seen it do this.
Yeah, I'll come check it out.
Give me a minute.
My problem is,
I can't afford to have
even one machine down.
I have just enough machines.
So if one goes down,
then we're gonna
lose production.
Did you just hear that?
It just shut off.
-What's going on, Todd?
-I don't know.
It's not
it's not something normal.
-All right.
-'Cause it's got
a bunch of errors.
It's got something
something drastically wrong.
Okay, I'm gonna go ahead
and just pull up some codes
real quick here
before we get in too deep.
Well, .
Hey, guys,
are you guys
Anybody else
having any issues?
Cub, you got a copy.
Yeah, go ahead.
Cub, is your, uh
is your truck starting?
Well, what the ?
No, it's
it's not.
Okay, guys.
Something something's
really, really wrong.
Just don't touch anything.
I want you guys
to just kill it
before something happens
to it.
We got other machines, Ron.
We got an issue.
I need to go look at
the site glasses
-Do it.
-on the filter,
and just see what's in there.
This is not normal.
Please.
Todd?
This thing's full of water.
Oh, my gosh.
The moisture going
through these is not good.
It can take out
the injection pumps.
It can take the end
off the injectors.
It can blow the tops
off the pistons.
Even if they do survive,
we may end up
running into faults
for the next several weeks.
-So
we need to get on this
right away.
-I will.
-Get a hold of the guys.
Tell them
to stop running anything
that's actually running.
Guys, everybody kill
your machines.
I want every single machine
off now.
Why?
Are you kidding me?
Guys,
we're shutting down the mine.
Both plants
need to shut off now.
me.
Hit the bypass,
hit the bypass.
Roger that.
This is
the absolute worst time
that this could be happening.
Time down is just us
not getting gold.
And, uh, we're in a race
against the elements
and against the cold.
So we really can't afford
any of this right now.
Shut the trommel down.
I'll kill the trommel
and run down and get the pump.
Generator's off,
trommel's down.
When the problem sets in,
you realize, "Oh, my gosh,
I'm literally losing
my investment."
Welcome to gold mining.
One step forward,
sometimes two steps back.
Today was two steps back.
As of right now,
we're not getting any gold.
The fueling system has
really tight tolerances.
It doesn't take water,
it doesn't take dirt.
The moisture going through
these is not good.
The Hoffmans'
entire mine is shut down
after discovering the fuel
powering both plants
and all their heavy machinery
is contaminated with water.
Water, when it gets into
the machine when it's hot,
take the end
right off the injectors,
it goes through the fuel pump,
takes up the fuel pump.
Tell me what I can do.
I'm gonna need help
to drain all these tanks off.
How long's it gonna take?
You're gonna lose
24 to 48 hours.
I can't lose 48 hours.
There's no You can't.
-It's not an option.
-I can't even lose 24.
It has to be done.
Aw, dang it.
This is huge.
How much more room
you got in there?
Not a lot.
Okay.
We had about 5,000 gallons
of contaminated fuel.
And at $6 a gallon,
you're looking at $30,000.
Plus a whole day's running,
and when you only have
so many days left,
that's a big deal.
I'm calling in a favor
down in Nome.
We gotta get
good fuel out here
and get our operation
rolling again.
It's almost done.
Bryce is just
on the other end,
making sure that
we're getting every last drop.
So we just wanna get
everything we can.
And then Dakota's gonna
come through
and drain the last little bit
out with a bucket.
Hey, well, we got what we can.
The stream is getting less.
That's obviously
really cloudy.
Not supposed to be like that.
Nearly 30 hours
into the shutdown,
the gas Todd called in
has arrived.
Got a bunch of the equipment
drained out.
And it's on to
filling them back up.
There we go.
That'll work.
So, I'm heading over
to see if Ron,
he could actually fire up
the very first machine,
and we're gonna see
if we're good to go.
Let's, uh let's get it
all up and running.
We'll know right away
if there's any problems,
and if there is
we'll just get it addressed.
Okay, we'll fire it up
and we'll see
what happens here.
Okay. This one
should go. It's, uh
I just finished bleeding it.
We'll see if it goes
right away or not.
-Come on.
-Does it sound good?
-It's alive!
Next!
How many we got left?
Got one, two five left.
-Keep it up, man.
-We'll get her.
Let me know
what you need from me.
Patience.
-Okay. All right.
-It just takes time
to do it right, okay?
-Thanks, Ron.
-Yeah.
Ron's got
about five more machines,
but this one just fired up.
You guys heard it,
it's perfect.
That's a beautiful sound.
Once he gets these going,
hopefully if
everything's running,
we're back in business.
And hopefully we can catch up
on what we just lost today.
It takes
an additional three hours
to refuel
the rest of the equipment.
We got fresh fuel,
ready to go.
There we go.
Clear the trommel. Clear.
I lost $30,000 in fuel,
and I've been down
at least a day now,
which is probably
another $20,000, $30,000.
We are running out of time.
If we do not get these
machines back up and running,
we could miss this goal.
Clear!
Bar in the block, bro.
Everybody clear.
me.
We're back in business.
With all the time
that we just lost
changing out bad fuel,
Hunter and I need to run
as much pay dirt
out of this Lost Cut
as we can.
Luckily
we got
all the machines running.
Because, uh,
that could have been
really, really, really bad.
We actually dodged
a very, very big bullet
on that one. All the machines,
we didn't hurt anything.
You know, these machines
are on lease.
It's not like I own
these machines.
I can't afford that.
That could have
really, really been bad.
Very thankful that, uh,
we're able to come out
of that alive.
And away we go,
off to a thousand.
Look at that stuff.
Look at that.
Nice! I like it.
Right now,
the only pay source
that we have left
is the Lost Cut.
So we gotta get back on it
before it freezes up.
Hopefully we can
make it
with the dirt
that we have left
till the freeze pushes us out.
Otherwise I don't know
what we'll do.
The ground down deep
is always frozen.
And soon as you start
losing daylight,
the ground's gonna quit
thawing out.
So you've got to keep digging
and you've gotta keep
de-watering things.
Once it stops thawing,
you're done.
You have no more dirt to run.
At some point
we're gonna run out of time.
God, I love
this wash plant.
I wanna take it home.
I'm running about 240 yards
an hour right now,
so that's pretty hot.
This is
absolutely, like,
frickin' the Goblin King,
dude.
Gold Goblin King.
What it's all about,
right here.
The Black Pearl's
been doing good.
It's contributing
a lot of gold to the team.
So I wanna see how much more
we can get out of her.
As long as
the rock's getting washed
and the sluice boxes
are working,
we gotta keep going faster.
Time is of the essence.
It's getting colder.
We're getting down
to the end of the season.
And I don't think
the Black Pearl could be,
I think that it is going to be
the saving grace this year.
This thing was built specially
for this weather
where we're at.
The Holy Roller's
been having a lot of issues.
Like, I see
there's a reason why
this wash plant's been around
for so long.
So there's a reason why
this plant's had
so many yards ran through it,
I guess 'cause it works
pretty good.
So being able to get
a couple hundred ounces extra
that you wouldn't have gotten
is tremendous.
Oh, .
What the ?
The trommel's not spinning.
The trommel's
not spinning.
Idle down the pump.
Filled with water.
I don't know exactly
what's going on.
The drum just stopped spinning
but the motor's still running,
so that's not good.
I'm smelling,
it smells like the clutch.
I think the clutch burned out.
This, this engages the clutch
which actually drives
the motor.
And you can see right here
it wants to go,
but it's not biting.
-Hey, Ron?
Okay. Thank you.
-Hey, Cub.
We just, we're broke down.
-Can you come down here?
- Yeah.
-What's up?
-I don't think
this one's good.
No? What's it doing?
The whole drum stopped.
The engine was still running,
-this was still engaged.
- Okay.
So I tried to re-engage it.
Okay, let's see
what's coming apart in there.
Quick peek here.
-So there's
a twin disc clutch
-Yeah.
that when we
pull on this lever,
if you look in here
-see this release bearing?
- Yep, yep, yep.
It comes over and basically
locks the shaft
- Yeah.
-to the gears.
And there's
a ceramic clutch disc in there
that is splined
to the flywheel.
So when you push this,
two plates come together
and they grab on
to that ceramic disc,
and that connects the engine
to the belt.
-So fire it up again.
We're gonna have a quick look.
-Okay.
- Go ahead.
-You see the ceramic disc
is the odd color in there?
-Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It should keep moving
right now.
It should be connected
to the flywheel.
Flywheel's moving separate
from it right now.
Shut it off.
So it's not transferring
the load.
All right, I got to open it up
and see what's coming apart
in there.
I'll be right back.
Give me a second.
There's issues
running new equipment
that you've never tested,
but there's also issues
running old equipment.
This thing's got
a lot of hours on it,
and me and Cub have been
pushing the plant really hard,
and this might be God's way
of keeping me humble.
Was feeling confident,
maybe too confident,
in the Black Pearl
and we were doing good.
And we were just
picking up the pace,
and our momentum was building,
and I was ready
to run the Lost Cut pay.
Now I have a real breakdown.
This is the last thing
I needed,
but I'm gonna see
what I can do.
I got Ron on it.
That guy is the best
in the business.
Knock on wood,
but looks like my luck's
run out on this.
While Ron takes the lead
in fixing the Black Pearl,
Randy steps up
to keep the Holy Roller
chugging through
Lost Cut paydirt.
Well, I noticed
is that it shut down.
That's about it.
So far, the Pearl's been down
for the last hour-and-a-half.
You know, we were two plants
running this morning.
We were all excited,
everything was looking great,
and then kaput.
I hope that it's a quick fix
because we need
that plant running.
It's crucial to our goal.
Uh, not only that,
but, you know,
they got a lot
of hard work into it.
Holy Roller is running
like a fine Swiss watch today.
There's no issues.
The only issues so far
is the guy feeding the plant.
His brain is about
to roll out of his ears.
All right, well,
that's all looking good.
Looking forward
to being done.
I've been in here
for a little over 9 hours,
and, uh, eventually
I'm gonna have to go
to the bathroom.
Eventually.
Let Randy take a break
for a minute.
-Thank you.
-Yep.
-My eyes
have got to be yellow.
Okay, we'll get this thing
safed out first.
-You want to open up
that belt guard, please?
-Got it.
Okay. There.
Get this thing loosened up.
-Can you hold the wrench?
Okay. Got it?
-Yeah.
This actually sucks.
I'm losing money.
Everybody's losing money.
The Black Pearl's
not getting any gold.
You know,
break downs are inevitable,
but I'm hoping that
when we peel this thing open
it's not what we think it is.
- Got her?
-Yeah.
Hopefully in a hour or two
we're gonna be up and running
and sluicing some more dirt.
Whatever it is,
I'm sure we can
find something for it.
I hope so.
It's just the time
is the issue.
Yeah.
Let's see
if it's something simple.
Maybe we'll get lucky here.
Grab onto this shaft
on this side,
and I'll grab this one
-Okay.
-and we're gonna pull it
straight up.
Oh, oh, it's moving. Okay.
All right,
coming straight over my way.
Oh, yeah.
- There goes the discs.
-Where are we putting this?
Okay, set this right here.
Ah, just like that.
That's great.
Oh.
The splines
have torn right off
the ceramic friction.
-Yeah, it's bad.
-Yeah.
Any lead
we were gaining on
the Holy Roller is gone now.
Oh.
The splines
have torn right off
the ceramic friction.
It's eaten into the teeth
in the flywheel,
and it looks like it was
sitting uneven in here.
The wear is uneven
on the flywheel.
238oz short
of their 1,000oz goal,
the Black Pearl sits idle
with a broken clutch to blame.
What does the end
of that shaft look like?
I mean,
that got hot, cracked.
Pressure plate's
cracked.
Yeah, you see this here?
The pilot bearing
rides on here
and it supports
the end of the shaft,
and because it's so loose
the shaft is likely
not sitting straight
and squaring the flywheel.
-Oh.
-There's a good chance
these teeth were overloaded
on one side over the other
- Turn it back up.
-judging by the wear
in the flywheel.
So this is just a matter
of high hours and old age.
-Just wore out.
-That's not good.
We have the information
off that tag on the plate.
Let's get on the horn
and see what we can find
for parts.
-Does anybody still make this?
-Oh, yeah.
- They do?
-Yeah, this will be current.
There's lots
of these around,
just not here right now.
-You think
there's a lot in Nome?
-No.
So there's no way to
Could we bush fix it,
and bypass the clutch,
and just have it?
We can do anything.
We would make it
permanently engaged.
-The problem is, is it safe?
- Yeah.
Because we can't
disengage the drive
-when we need to
if there is an emergency
-Yeah.
and what further damage
will it do
when it does fail again?
We bush fix this thing
and permanently mount that
to the flywheel, basically.
We lose
all our flex and the give
that we have there.
-Yeah.
-We could ruin the engine.
Then you don't have
anything at all.
I have a real problem
with that.
So I'm sure that
that will come up
as an option, but
What's the best case scenario?
We get the parts quickly
out of Nome
and maybe here within
a couple of days.
There's only a few hours
for me to get the pieces
thrown into it
and back together.
-Just got to get
the pieces here.
- Yeah.
So you think there's
no way around it?
We're down
for a couple of days?
Couple of days. I need parts.
I don't have a couple of days.
This completely screws us.
I should let my dad know.
-Did you hear
what happened on the radio?
-Uh-uh. What happened?
Basically, my clutch
went out on the motor
on the Black Pearl.
Jeez.
Me and Ron pulled it open.
The clutch plate,
the pieces that grab the disc,
they got hot,
they were cracked.
Everything's sheared off.
What did Ron think?
Can we make something?
No.
He thinks
there's no way for us
to do a bush fix on it
without compromising
the whole motor.
-Jeez.
-Pretty much, the whole thing
needs rebuilt
-so
-Pretty catastrophic
is what I'm hearing.
Having watched
all the hard work
that Hunter has put
into this plant,
I'm proud of him.
I want this plant
to actually be successful.
To have
this kind of issue right now,
right at the goal line,
is actually
pretty disheartening.
Hopefully
they can turn it around
and turn it around real quick.
It's just a unique part.
There's not a lot of things
that use that particular
direct drive clutch in town.
I've already been
calling around everywhere.
They don't have
anything like that here.
Everything that
I'm hearing about in town
is all too big.
It's, like, a 13 inch.
We have a 10 inch
fiberglass disc in there,
and it's, like,
a really unique piece,
and they don't have that size.
-And that piece
-What's this thing,
what's this, like,
it can't be worth more than
a few hundred bucks.
What if we order it?
What are we looking at?
I'm waiting to hear back.
It has to come from
the manufacturer
which is in, like, Wisconsin
or something like that.
-And so
-Wow.
-I don't
-Dude, I am so sorry.
I'm sorry for everybody
because that thing's
cranking out gold.
-We're both cranking out gold.
-This week is Yeah.
-Yeah.
-Mmm-hmm.
This is the most gold
we've been getting with it.
We're losing 30, $40,000 a day
on a $300 part.
We only have
so much time left.
I want to keep trying.
I just, I don't know.
You need to get that part.
Fly it in,
whatever you got to do.
You get that plant
running quick,
or we're not gonna
hit 1,000oz,
I'll guarantee you that,
now that you guys are cooking.
Got it.
The cool part
about having two plants,
I'm at least still heading
towards a goal,
but I don't know
if we're gonna reach it
without his plant.
He's got
to figure something out.
All right, let me know
what I can do.
What happened
to the Black Pearl?
We're pretty, uh, down bad.
Well, let's pull the box.
We had two good days on it.
I ran 400 yards this morning,
so either way
it should be good.
Well, let's do it.
We were just starting
to pick up speed.
We've been getting
the best gold
that we've got
from the Lost Cut.
And I was pushing
for 100oz this week.
We've got to take
this loss on the chin.
Do you notice the difference
between this
and the stuff
we were running before?
Yeah, this is more porous.
Today would have been
another maybe 20oz
which is almost $35,000.
It's hard to take this loss,
you know?
We'll get this thing
all cleaned up
and get the plant ready
for when we're able
to run it again.
-Are you gonna pull this out
with me, Sparky?
-Yeah.
-We'll pull.
-You find one?
Yeah, I just found me
another nugget.
Yeah, there's
more nuggets down here.
Hunter, look at this.
Sick.
Look at that.
-Are you kidding me?
-What? What did he
just find?
-Little nugget.
-Look at that one.
See, that's
the biggest nugget we've found
since we've been at this mine.
That's insane.
That's the stuff
the Holy Roller can't catch
because these are too small.
-You just found that
right in there?
-Yeah. It was, like,
right here, yeah.
-Right at the top?
A bigger wash plant,
bigger gold, baby.
Well, it's a little sign
we need to
- Keep going.
-we need
to keep going, man.
Yeah.
There's positives
and there's negatives,
and this isn't
our first breakdown,
and it's not gonna
be our last, so
we'll just
keep moving forward.
- You made it.
- Hello.
A little extra.
Yeah.
My grandpa loves gold
more than anybody,
so first person I thought of
to show this nugget to is him.
Let's see
what it looks like, huh?
We're gonna have to see
what he thinks about it.
I'll take a bunch of those.
-Yeah.
-Whoo.
My grandpa's
kind of the reason
why I'm up here mining.
His love of gold mining
is magic.
These are all nice.
I just love the guy.
Look at that.
Wow.
That's the biggest nugget
we've seen.
I'm liking what I'm seeing.
We've found the biggest nugget
that we've found all season.
-You know what it looks like?
-Mmm.
Looks like
a guy sitting there,
panning gold.
- Yeah, yeah.
-Huh?
-That's pretty cool.
-Yeah, huge, man.
That's pretty cool.
We'll see
what the cleanup looks like.
Hi!
-How's it going?
She's six months old today.
- God dang.
I knew it was gonna be hard,
but one of the main things
is me missing out
on my family.
She wants it?
I just don't know
if it's worth it
to be up here
and miss my family,
and I come back
and my baby's twice as old.
I've never seen her
eat food before.
I'm kind of at the point
where I just want to finish
the season.
All right, Kenzie, bye.
Love you.
Love you too.
-Bye!
- Bye.
Make that your last bucket
right there, all right?
-10-4.
She's all in.
There's a picker right here
in the box.
What do you think?
A lot
of chunky stuff.
-Nice.
-A lot of chunky stuff.
So we got a little over
a couple of 100oz
to get to 1,000,
and the season's winding down,
but we're gonna pull this box
and, uh, hopefully
should be good.
We got a few days on it now,
and, um, getting close.
- Looks pretty good.
-Yeah, it does.
It's down the riffles.
We've only got
a little bit left to go
and then
we can get out of here.
I'm ready for it.
We know time is short
before weather
and the winter kicks in,
and this all freezes up,
and it tells us to go home,
but we want to hit that 1,000
before that happens.
We want to go home
with our pockets full.
Hoping that
it's a hot cleanup.
As time runs short,
the team will need at least
119oz of gold this week
to keep their 1,000oz goal
within reach.
Guys, I want to thank you
for switching over
to the Lost Cut.
It's a big gamble.
We needed to do something
to make sure that we got
to 1,000oz.
Hopefully it pays off.
We've ran as much Lost Cut
as we could with both plants.
At 2.4oz per 100,
it's pretty rich stuff.
I'm pretty excited
to actually see
what this cleanup's gonna do.
We're gonna need
a monster week
-to actually take us
over the hump.
-Yeah.
It was starting to look better
before we broke down.
It was the best
that I've seen.
The box looked really good
for how many yards
we put through.
So I don't really want
to think about
how much gold
we could have got this week,
but hopefully, you know,
your guys' cleanup
makes up for it.
Good. Well,
we'll find out here.
- Holding it
with two fingers.
-Welcome, gentlemen.
-I'm just gonna do this
for you guys, all right?
-All right.
-Just so you can
figure this out.
-Oh, come on,
have some confidence.
-No.
-Uh, not much
for this week, buddy.
I'll take the little pan
this week.
You know,
I'm proud of you guys.
Without your effort,
we had zero chance
of ever making it to 1,000.
You're great guys.
And I'm proud
to be with you guys.
-Stop.
Okay, Dad.
All right, I'm going to let
the Black Pearl go first.
Thurber, give us the pour.
Thank you, Jack.
Five.
13, 15, 16.
18, 19.
I mean, obviously I don't want
to think about how good
it would have been,
but either way,
that's over 30 grand
-you know?
-Pretty good.
Three kids and a wash plant
-that's been sitting
on the coast for seven years.
-I like it.
- That's not bad.
- So
I love it.
All right.
Well
Call it out.
All right. Come on, now.
Five, 10, 15.
20, 25.
Uh, I want 70. 70.
One, two.
Got. 80.
80.40.
- Whoo!
- Yeah.
- Awesome.
Dude, we got it.
That's almost 140 grand, guys.
- Nice.
- Awesome, man.
Good work, everybody.
We had, what,
a 170, $175,000 week.
Yep.
Where we at, Thurb?
Well, last week
we were at 762.
We needed average,
between the two plants,
We got a total of 100
for an 862.
The Holy Roller
weighs in with 80oz of gold,
while the Black Pearl
brings in only 20,
for a combined total of 100oz.
After this week,
the Hoffmans have a total
of 862oz,
leaving them 138oz short
of their 1,000oz season goal.
That's within
striking distance,
but, guys, you got to get
that Black Pearl running.
You know, my worst nightmare
is now our reality.
We lost the Black Pearl
and probably
what would be our best week
of the whole season.
So I'm gonna do what I can.
I'm gonna call around,
and try to get her fired up
next week,
and just keep going.
Both those plants
have got to run
six strong days,
and I mean 12, 13, 14 hours
each one.
There's no guarantees
on this weather.
We've just got
to stay focused.
If Hunter can't get
the Black Pearl running again
there's a very good chance
that we are gonna fall short
of the 1,000.
He's got
to figure something out.
-Let's see what happens.
- All right.
All right, good job, guys.
Let's kill it.
That's washpit dirt.
2.4 ounces per 100.
Todd's final gamble
proved a success.
That's pretty nice gold
right there.
But with
238 ounces to go
We're gonna need
a monster week.
and temperatures
rapidly dropping
The pay dirt's
actually starting to freeze up
in the morning.
the Hoffmans
need to mine
as much Lost Cut pay
as possible.
Mining about
240 yards an hour right now
so that's pretty hot.
Can Todd and
the crew burn through dirt
That's the biggest nugget
we've found since
we've been at this mine.
Or will they
get stuck in the mud?
Cub, is your
is your truck starting?
Well, what the ?
Did you hear that?
It just shut off.
-Well, .
Something's really,
really wrong.
The trommel's
not spinning.
Looks like
my luck's run out on this.
So, we're running out
of time.
It's getting cold.
Frost is here.
And, uh, how's that pay
coming out of there, Tater?
Frozen.
Scratched everything
we could find.
Okay.
Both plants are running
the Lost Cut.
But it's got
a lot of water in it,
so the pay dirt's
actually starting
to freeze up in the mornings.
Once the pay dirt freezes,
there won't be much
we can do about it.
It gets hard like concrete.
We're gonna have to work
through the night,
and we're already tired,
stretched thin, but
gonna run the last pay we got.
Yeah.
And it might be
closing out our season.
Let's be honest.
We just gotta keep
digging dirt,
keep pushing the plants
as hard as we can
until everything freezes up,
then we're done.
All right, guys.
Good job, man.
Everybody hang in there.
We're coming down
the home stretch.
This is
the hardest part, right?
-Yeah.
-All right, let's get to work.
You get her?
-Yeah.
-Okay.
I got Ron out here
with me today
helping me look over
the Black Pearl.
-Okay?
-Yeah.
-Okay?
-Yeah.
Trying to give it
a good bill of health,
because I'm gonna try
to run it
for 12 hours today,
of the Lost Cut pay.
Everything looks fine.
We're not seeing any leaks.
We're not smelling anything
burning up.
Oh, look at that belt.
Oh, one slipped over,
I see.
Ooh.
That'll be a quick fix.
It'll take two seconds.
Luckily it's
a quick fix, but this is why,
you know, I'm taking
a little bit of extra time
to look everything over.
Cub, hang tight.
We're gonna fix a belt
so just stay
stay put for a second.
Okay.
Just take it right off.
The way this plant works is
you have the motor,
which has several rubber belts
on it that go to a tensioner,
which turn the big sprocket,
which turns the chain,
which turns the drum.
So even a little thing
like this
can cause a bigger issue,
and I'm glad
that we caught it.
All right.
Just sneak around there
without smearing it.
Yeah.
You wanna try roll her?
-Yeah. You ready?
-Yeah.
-Oh, you're going that way?
-Yeah, on the gutter.
-Yeah.
-There you go.
- Okay?
-Yeah, yeah.
All right,
I'm gonna suck her up.
Okay.
Right now we still need
238 more ounces.
The Lost Cut, it's paying
about 2.4 ounces per 100
which is really good.
So before it freezes up,
I'm gonna just run this plant
till there's no more pay left.
I'm gonna flip this guy on.
Go ahead and bring the water
all the way out.
Full speed on the pump.
I never thought
I would say this,
but we still have a chance
of beating the Holy Roller.
But at the end of the day
we're all on the same team.
All the gold
goes into the same pot.
I think every single person
on this team
deserves the win.
The old-timers
say that
once the sandhill cranes
go by,
you got 10 days
till you're snowed out.
That's about right.
Last year, once we saw
the sandhill cranes,
10 days later
we had two inches of snow
on the ground.
Weather at that point
starts dropping dramatically.
It doesn't
look like it outside,
but at night
it's getting real cold.
And we've been punching in
about 17-hour days
for six days a week,
and as the weeks go on,
you forget the little things
that you're supposed
to do every day.
Everybody has to stay focused.
Nobody can be off their game.
Everything has
to stay running.
The weather is approaching us,
the snow is in the mountains.
We need to hit that goal
and get out of here.
This town's
about to freeze over.
We're both getting gold,
really good pay dirt.
Ran probably 6,000 yards
between the two of us.
And it's one of those days
where you just think,
"Man, this day couldn't be
any more perfect."
Hey, guys, so far,
things are running smooth.
Oh, yeah.
I grew up
doing night shift.
But, I mean,
it's not for everybody.
It's hard to see.
But we gotta stay focused
on the 1,000-ounce goal.
So we're chugging along.
We all have a common goal,
it's to get 1,000 ounces.
So we just wanna speed that up
as much as possible.
Let's go.
So, our pay dirt's starting
to freeze up.
We got a little bit left.
We're just gonna
keep grinding.
We're gonna run it
till the end
and where we can't run
any more.
I wanna get my dad
so much gold
on that table
that he can barely handle it.
I'm ready to go.
Uh-oh.
My machine
is not starting.
Bunch of things
flashed on the computer.
It's definitely
something wrong.
Ron, Ron, Ron,
you got a copy?
Yeah, go ahead.
Hey, can you come
down here? Uh
I need you to check out
this excavator.
I've never seen it do this.
Yeah, I'll come check it out.
Give me a minute.
My problem is,
I can't afford to have
even one machine down.
I have just enough machines.
So if one goes down,
then we're gonna
lose production.
Did you just hear that?
It just shut off.
-What's going on, Todd?
-I don't know.
It's not
it's not something normal.
-All right.
-'Cause it's got
a bunch of errors.
It's got something
something drastically wrong.
Okay, I'm gonna go ahead
and just pull up some codes
real quick here
before we get in too deep.
Well, .
Hey, guys,
are you guys
Anybody else
having any issues?
Cub, you got a copy.
Yeah, go ahead.
Cub, is your, uh
is your truck starting?
Well, what the ?
No, it's
it's not.
Okay, guys.
Something something's
really, really wrong.
Just don't touch anything.
I want you guys
to just kill it
before something happens
to it.
We got other machines, Ron.
We got an issue.
I need to go look at
the site glasses
-Do it.
-on the filter,
and just see what's in there.
This is not normal.
Please.
Todd?
This thing's full of water.
Oh, my gosh.
The moisture going
through these is not good.
It can take out
the injection pumps.
It can take the end
off the injectors.
It can blow the tops
off the pistons.
Even if they do survive,
we may end up
running into faults
for the next several weeks.
-So
we need to get on this
right away.
-I will.
-Get a hold of the guys.
Tell them
to stop running anything
that's actually running.
Guys, everybody kill
your machines.
I want every single machine
off now.
Why?
Are you kidding me?
Guys,
we're shutting down the mine.
Both plants
need to shut off now.
me.
Hit the bypass,
hit the bypass.
Roger that.
This is
the absolute worst time
that this could be happening.
Time down is just us
not getting gold.
And, uh, we're in a race
against the elements
and against the cold.
So we really can't afford
any of this right now.
Shut the trommel down.
I'll kill the trommel
and run down and get the pump.
Generator's off,
trommel's down.
When the problem sets in,
you realize, "Oh, my gosh,
I'm literally losing
my investment."
Welcome to gold mining.
One step forward,
sometimes two steps back.
Today was two steps back.
As of right now,
we're not getting any gold.
The fueling system has
really tight tolerances.
It doesn't take water,
it doesn't take dirt.
The moisture going through
these is not good.
The Hoffmans'
entire mine is shut down
after discovering the fuel
powering both plants
and all their heavy machinery
is contaminated with water.
Water, when it gets into
the machine when it's hot,
take the end
right off the injectors,
it goes through the fuel pump,
takes up the fuel pump.
Tell me what I can do.
I'm gonna need help
to drain all these tanks off.
How long's it gonna take?
You're gonna lose
24 to 48 hours.
I can't lose 48 hours.
There's no You can't.
-It's not an option.
-I can't even lose 24.
It has to be done.
Aw, dang it.
This is huge.
How much more room
you got in there?
Not a lot.
Okay.
We had about 5,000 gallons
of contaminated fuel.
And at $6 a gallon,
you're looking at $30,000.
Plus a whole day's running,
and when you only have
so many days left,
that's a big deal.
I'm calling in a favor
down in Nome.
We gotta get
good fuel out here
and get our operation
rolling again.
It's almost done.
Bryce is just
on the other end,
making sure that
we're getting every last drop.
So we just wanna get
everything we can.
And then Dakota's gonna
come through
and drain the last little bit
out with a bucket.
Hey, well, we got what we can.
The stream is getting less.
That's obviously
really cloudy.
Not supposed to be like that.
Nearly 30 hours
into the shutdown,
the gas Todd called in
has arrived.
Got a bunch of the equipment
drained out.
And it's on to
filling them back up.
There we go.
That'll work.
So, I'm heading over
to see if Ron,
he could actually fire up
the very first machine,
and we're gonna see
if we're good to go.
Let's, uh let's get it
all up and running.
We'll know right away
if there's any problems,
and if there is
we'll just get it addressed.
Okay, we'll fire it up
and we'll see
what happens here.
Okay. This one
should go. It's, uh
I just finished bleeding it.
We'll see if it goes
right away or not.
-Come on.
-Does it sound good?
-It's alive!
Next!
How many we got left?
Got one, two five left.
-Keep it up, man.
-We'll get her.
Let me know
what you need from me.
Patience.
-Okay. All right.
-It just takes time
to do it right, okay?
-Thanks, Ron.
-Yeah.
Ron's got
about five more machines,
but this one just fired up.
You guys heard it,
it's perfect.
That's a beautiful sound.
Once he gets these going,
hopefully if
everything's running,
we're back in business.
And hopefully we can catch up
on what we just lost today.
It takes
an additional three hours
to refuel
the rest of the equipment.
We got fresh fuel,
ready to go.
There we go.
Clear the trommel. Clear.
I lost $30,000 in fuel,
and I've been down
at least a day now,
which is probably
another $20,000, $30,000.
We are running out of time.
If we do not get these
machines back up and running,
we could miss this goal.
Clear!
Bar in the block, bro.
Everybody clear.
me.
We're back in business.
With all the time
that we just lost
changing out bad fuel,
Hunter and I need to run
as much pay dirt
out of this Lost Cut
as we can.
Luckily
we got
all the machines running.
Because, uh,
that could have been
really, really, really bad.
We actually dodged
a very, very big bullet
on that one. All the machines,
we didn't hurt anything.
You know, these machines
are on lease.
It's not like I own
these machines.
I can't afford that.
That could have
really, really been bad.
Very thankful that, uh,
we're able to come out
of that alive.
And away we go,
off to a thousand.
Look at that stuff.
Look at that.
Nice! I like it.
Right now,
the only pay source
that we have left
is the Lost Cut.
So we gotta get back on it
before it freezes up.
Hopefully we can
make it
with the dirt
that we have left
till the freeze pushes us out.
Otherwise I don't know
what we'll do.
The ground down deep
is always frozen.
And soon as you start
losing daylight,
the ground's gonna quit
thawing out.
So you've got to keep digging
and you've gotta keep
de-watering things.
Once it stops thawing,
you're done.
You have no more dirt to run.
At some point
we're gonna run out of time.
God, I love
this wash plant.
I wanna take it home.
I'm running about 240 yards
an hour right now,
so that's pretty hot.
This is
absolutely, like,
frickin' the Goblin King,
dude.
Gold Goblin King.
What it's all about,
right here.
The Black Pearl's
been doing good.
It's contributing
a lot of gold to the team.
So I wanna see how much more
we can get out of her.
As long as
the rock's getting washed
and the sluice boxes
are working,
we gotta keep going faster.
Time is of the essence.
It's getting colder.
We're getting down
to the end of the season.
And I don't think
the Black Pearl could be,
I think that it is going to be
the saving grace this year.
This thing was built specially
for this weather
where we're at.
The Holy Roller's
been having a lot of issues.
Like, I see
there's a reason why
this wash plant's been around
for so long.
So there's a reason why
this plant's had
so many yards ran through it,
I guess 'cause it works
pretty good.
So being able to get
a couple hundred ounces extra
that you wouldn't have gotten
is tremendous.
Oh, .
What the ?
The trommel's not spinning.
The trommel's
not spinning.
Idle down the pump.
Filled with water.
I don't know exactly
what's going on.
The drum just stopped spinning
but the motor's still running,
so that's not good.
I'm smelling,
it smells like the clutch.
I think the clutch burned out.
This, this engages the clutch
which actually drives
the motor.
And you can see right here
it wants to go,
but it's not biting.
-Hey, Ron?
Okay. Thank you.
-Hey, Cub.
We just, we're broke down.
-Can you come down here?
- Yeah.
-What's up?
-I don't think
this one's good.
No? What's it doing?
The whole drum stopped.
The engine was still running,
-this was still engaged.
- Okay.
So I tried to re-engage it.
Okay, let's see
what's coming apart in there.
Quick peek here.
-So there's
a twin disc clutch
-Yeah.
that when we
pull on this lever,
if you look in here
-see this release bearing?
- Yep, yep, yep.
It comes over and basically
locks the shaft
- Yeah.
-to the gears.
And there's
a ceramic clutch disc in there
that is splined
to the flywheel.
So when you push this,
two plates come together
and they grab on
to that ceramic disc,
and that connects the engine
to the belt.
-So fire it up again.
We're gonna have a quick look.
-Okay.
- Go ahead.
-You see the ceramic disc
is the odd color in there?
-Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It should keep moving
right now.
It should be connected
to the flywheel.
Flywheel's moving separate
from it right now.
Shut it off.
So it's not transferring
the load.
All right, I got to open it up
and see what's coming apart
in there.
I'll be right back.
Give me a second.
There's issues
running new equipment
that you've never tested,
but there's also issues
running old equipment.
This thing's got
a lot of hours on it,
and me and Cub have been
pushing the plant really hard,
and this might be God's way
of keeping me humble.
Was feeling confident,
maybe too confident,
in the Black Pearl
and we were doing good.
And we were just
picking up the pace,
and our momentum was building,
and I was ready
to run the Lost Cut pay.
Now I have a real breakdown.
This is the last thing
I needed,
but I'm gonna see
what I can do.
I got Ron on it.
That guy is the best
in the business.
Knock on wood,
but looks like my luck's
run out on this.
While Ron takes the lead
in fixing the Black Pearl,
Randy steps up
to keep the Holy Roller
chugging through
Lost Cut paydirt.
Well, I noticed
is that it shut down.
That's about it.
So far, the Pearl's been down
for the last hour-and-a-half.
You know, we were two plants
running this morning.
We were all excited,
everything was looking great,
and then kaput.
I hope that it's a quick fix
because we need
that plant running.
It's crucial to our goal.
Uh, not only that,
but, you know,
they got a lot
of hard work into it.
Holy Roller is running
like a fine Swiss watch today.
There's no issues.
The only issues so far
is the guy feeding the plant.
His brain is about
to roll out of his ears.
All right, well,
that's all looking good.
Looking forward
to being done.
I've been in here
for a little over 9 hours,
and, uh, eventually
I'm gonna have to go
to the bathroom.
Eventually.
Let Randy take a break
for a minute.
-Thank you.
-Yep.
-My eyes
have got to be yellow.
Okay, we'll get this thing
safed out first.
-You want to open up
that belt guard, please?
-Got it.
Okay. There.
Get this thing loosened up.
-Can you hold the wrench?
Okay. Got it?
-Yeah.
This actually sucks.
I'm losing money.
Everybody's losing money.
The Black Pearl's
not getting any gold.
You know,
break downs are inevitable,
but I'm hoping that
when we peel this thing open
it's not what we think it is.
- Got her?
-Yeah.
Hopefully in a hour or two
we're gonna be up and running
and sluicing some more dirt.
Whatever it is,
I'm sure we can
find something for it.
I hope so.
It's just the time
is the issue.
Yeah.
Let's see
if it's something simple.
Maybe we'll get lucky here.
Grab onto this shaft
on this side,
and I'll grab this one
-Okay.
-and we're gonna pull it
straight up.
Oh, oh, it's moving. Okay.
All right,
coming straight over my way.
Oh, yeah.
- There goes the discs.
-Where are we putting this?
Okay, set this right here.
Ah, just like that.
That's great.
Oh.
The splines
have torn right off
the ceramic friction.
-Yeah, it's bad.
-Yeah.
Any lead
we were gaining on
the Holy Roller is gone now.
Oh.
The splines
have torn right off
the ceramic friction.
It's eaten into the teeth
in the flywheel,
and it looks like it was
sitting uneven in here.
The wear is uneven
on the flywheel.
238oz short
of their 1,000oz goal,
the Black Pearl sits idle
with a broken clutch to blame.
What does the end
of that shaft look like?
I mean,
that got hot, cracked.
Pressure plate's
cracked.
Yeah, you see this here?
The pilot bearing
rides on here
and it supports
the end of the shaft,
and because it's so loose
the shaft is likely
not sitting straight
and squaring the flywheel.
-Oh.
-There's a good chance
these teeth were overloaded
on one side over the other
- Turn it back up.
-judging by the wear
in the flywheel.
So this is just a matter
of high hours and old age.
-Just wore out.
-That's not good.
We have the information
off that tag on the plate.
Let's get on the horn
and see what we can find
for parts.
-Does anybody still make this?
-Oh, yeah.
- They do?
-Yeah, this will be current.
There's lots
of these around,
just not here right now.
-You think
there's a lot in Nome?
-No.
So there's no way to
Could we bush fix it,
and bypass the clutch,
and just have it?
We can do anything.
We would make it
permanently engaged.
-The problem is, is it safe?
- Yeah.
Because we can't
disengage the drive
-when we need to
if there is an emergency
-Yeah.
and what further damage
will it do
when it does fail again?
We bush fix this thing
and permanently mount that
to the flywheel, basically.
We lose
all our flex and the give
that we have there.
-Yeah.
-We could ruin the engine.
Then you don't have
anything at all.
I have a real problem
with that.
So I'm sure that
that will come up
as an option, but
What's the best case scenario?
We get the parts quickly
out of Nome
and maybe here within
a couple of days.
There's only a few hours
for me to get the pieces
thrown into it
and back together.
-Just got to get
the pieces here.
- Yeah.
So you think there's
no way around it?
We're down
for a couple of days?
Couple of days. I need parts.
I don't have a couple of days.
This completely screws us.
I should let my dad know.
-Did you hear
what happened on the radio?
-Uh-uh. What happened?
Basically, my clutch
went out on the motor
on the Black Pearl.
Jeez.
Me and Ron pulled it open.
The clutch plate,
the pieces that grab the disc,
they got hot,
they were cracked.
Everything's sheared off.
What did Ron think?
Can we make something?
No.
He thinks
there's no way for us
to do a bush fix on it
without compromising
the whole motor.
-Jeez.
-Pretty much, the whole thing
needs rebuilt
-so
-Pretty catastrophic
is what I'm hearing.
Having watched
all the hard work
that Hunter has put
into this plant,
I'm proud of him.
I want this plant
to actually be successful.
To have
this kind of issue right now,
right at the goal line,
is actually
pretty disheartening.
Hopefully
they can turn it around
and turn it around real quick.
It's just a unique part.
There's not a lot of things
that use that particular
direct drive clutch in town.
I've already been
calling around everywhere.
They don't have
anything like that here.
Everything that
I'm hearing about in town
is all too big.
It's, like, a 13 inch.
We have a 10 inch
fiberglass disc in there,
and it's, like,
a really unique piece,
and they don't have that size.
-And that piece
-What's this thing,
what's this, like,
it can't be worth more than
a few hundred bucks.
What if we order it?
What are we looking at?
I'm waiting to hear back.
It has to come from
the manufacturer
which is in, like, Wisconsin
or something like that.
-And so
-Wow.
-I don't
-Dude, I am so sorry.
I'm sorry for everybody
because that thing's
cranking out gold.
-We're both cranking out gold.
-This week is Yeah.
-Yeah.
-Mmm-hmm.
This is the most gold
we've been getting with it.
We're losing 30, $40,000 a day
on a $300 part.
We only have
so much time left.
I want to keep trying.
I just, I don't know.
You need to get that part.
Fly it in,
whatever you got to do.
You get that plant
running quick,
or we're not gonna
hit 1,000oz,
I'll guarantee you that,
now that you guys are cooking.
Got it.
The cool part
about having two plants,
I'm at least still heading
towards a goal,
but I don't know
if we're gonna reach it
without his plant.
He's got
to figure something out.
All right, let me know
what I can do.
What happened
to the Black Pearl?
We're pretty, uh, down bad.
Well, let's pull the box.
We had two good days on it.
I ran 400 yards this morning,
so either way
it should be good.
Well, let's do it.
We were just starting
to pick up speed.
We've been getting
the best gold
that we've got
from the Lost Cut.
And I was pushing
for 100oz this week.
We've got to take
this loss on the chin.
Do you notice the difference
between this
and the stuff
we were running before?
Yeah, this is more porous.
Today would have been
another maybe 20oz
which is almost $35,000.
It's hard to take this loss,
you know?
We'll get this thing
all cleaned up
and get the plant ready
for when we're able
to run it again.
-Are you gonna pull this out
with me, Sparky?
-Yeah.
-We'll pull.
-You find one?
Yeah, I just found me
another nugget.
Yeah, there's
more nuggets down here.
Hunter, look at this.
Sick.
Look at that.
-Are you kidding me?
-What? What did he
just find?
-Little nugget.
-Look at that one.
See, that's
the biggest nugget we've found
since we've been at this mine.
That's insane.
That's the stuff
the Holy Roller can't catch
because these are too small.
-You just found that
right in there?
-Yeah. It was, like,
right here, yeah.
-Right at the top?
A bigger wash plant,
bigger gold, baby.
Well, it's a little sign
we need to
- Keep going.
-we need
to keep going, man.
Yeah.
There's positives
and there's negatives,
and this isn't
our first breakdown,
and it's not gonna
be our last, so
we'll just
keep moving forward.
- You made it.
- Hello.
A little extra.
Yeah.
My grandpa loves gold
more than anybody,
so first person I thought of
to show this nugget to is him.
Let's see
what it looks like, huh?
We're gonna have to see
what he thinks about it.
I'll take a bunch of those.
-Yeah.
-Whoo.
My grandpa's
kind of the reason
why I'm up here mining.
His love of gold mining
is magic.
These are all nice.
I just love the guy.
Look at that.
Wow.
That's the biggest nugget
we've seen.
I'm liking what I'm seeing.
We've found the biggest nugget
that we've found all season.
-You know what it looks like?
-Mmm.
Looks like
a guy sitting there,
panning gold.
- Yeah, yeah.
-Huh?
-That's pretty cool.
-Yeah, huge, man.
That's pretty cool.
We'll see
what the cleanup looks like.
Hi!
-How's it going?
She's six months old today.
- God dang.
I knew it was gonna be hard,
but one of the main things
is me missing out
on my family.
She wants it?
I just don't know
if it's worth it
to be up here
and miss my family,
and I come back
and my baby's twice as old.
I've never seen her
eat food before.
I'm kind of at the point
where I just want to finish
the season.
All right, Kenzie, bye.
Love you.
Love you too.
-Bye!
- Bye.
Make that your last bucket
right there, all right?
-10-4.
She's all in.
There's a picker right here
in the box.
What do you think?
A lot
of chunky stuff.
-Nice.
-A lot of chunky stuff.
So we got a little over
a couple of 100oz
to get to 1,000,
and the season's winding down,
but we're gonna pull this box
and, uh, hopefully
should be good.
We got a few days on it now,
and, um, getting close.
- Looks pretty good.
-Yeah, it does.
It's down the riffles.
We've only got
a little bit left to go
and then
we can get out of here.
I'm ready for it.
We know time is short
before weather
and the winter kicks in,
and this all freezes up,
and it tells us to go home,
but we want to hit that 1,000
before that happens.
We want to go home
with our pockets full.
Hoping that
it's a hot cleanup.
As time runs short,
the team will need at least
119oz of gold this week
to keep their 1,000oz goal
within reach.
Guys, I want to thank you
for switching over
to the Lost Cut.
It's a big gamble.
We needed to do something
to make sure that we got
to 1,000oz.
Hopefully it pays off.
We've ran as much Lost Cut
as we could with both plants.
At 2.4oz per 100,
it's pretty rich stuff.
I'm pretty excited
to actually see
what this cleanup's gonna do.
We're gonna need
a monster week
-to actually take us
over the hump.
-Yeah.
It was starting to look better
before we broke down.
It was the best
that I've seen.
The box looked really good
for how many yards
we put through.
So I don't really want
to think about
how much gold
we could have got this week,
but hopefully, you know,
your guys' cleanup
makes up for it.
Good. Well,
we'll find out here.
- Holding it
with two fingers.
-Welcome, gentlemen.
-I'm just gonna do this
for you guys, all right?
-All right.
-Just so you can
figure this out.
-Oh, come on,
have some confidence.
-No.
-Uh, not much
for this week, buddy.
I'll take the little pan
this week.
You know,
I'm proud of you guys.
Without your effort,
we had zero chance
of ever making it to 1,000.
You're great guys.
And I'm proud
to be with you guys.
-Stop.
Okay, Dad.
All right, I'm going to let
the Black Pearl go first.
Thurber, give us the pour.
Thank you, Jack.
Five.
13, 15, 16.
18, 19.
I mean, obviously I don't want
to think about how good
it would have been,
but either way,
that's over 30 grand
-you know?
-Pretty good.
Three kids and a wash plant
-that's been sitting
on the coast for seven years.
-I like it.
- That's not bad.
- So
I love it.
All right.
Well
Call it out.
All right. Come on, now.
Five, 10, 15.
20, 25.
Uh, I want 70. 70.
One, two.
Got. 80.
80.40.
- Whoo!
- Yeah.
- Awesome.
Dude, we got it.
That's almost 140 grand, guys.
- Nice.
- Awesome, man.
Good work, everybody.
We had, what,
a 170, $175,000 week.
Yep.
Where we at, Thurb?
Well, last week
we were at 762.
We needed average,
between the two plants,
We got a total of 100
for an 862.
The Holy Roller
weighs in with 80oz of gold,
while the Black Pearl
brings in only 20,
for a combined total of 100oz.
After this week,
the Hoffmans have a total
of 862oz,
leaving them 138oz short
of their 1,000oz season goal.
That's within
striking distance,
but, guys, you got to get
that Black Pearl running.
You know, my worst nightmare
is now our reality.
We lost the Black Pearl
and probably
what would be our best week
of the whole season.
So I'm gonna do what I can.
I'm gonna call around,
and try to get her fired up
next week,
and just keep going.
Both those plants
have got to run
six strong days,
and I mean 12, 13, 14 hours
each one.
There's no guarantees
on this weather.
We've just got
to stay focused.
If Hunter can't get
the Black Pearl running again
there's a very good chance
that we are gonna fall short
of the 1,000.
He's got
to figure something out.
-Let's see what happens.
- All right.
All right, good job, guys.
Let's kill it.