Gold Rush Teams Race for Record Season as Parker and Tony Compete for Klondike Crown

We already blew past our 6,500 ounce goal. That mean just because the red star goal doesn't mean we're going to stop. Parker is going for 10,000 ounces. Let's see who ends up on top. Tony Beats only has a few weeks left in the season and wants to blow his rivals out of the water to secure his crown as king of the Klondike. He's already stacked over $30 million. But with the gold price jumping another $100 an ounce, the king is hungry for more. We got find a lot. just ripping through the corner cut and the Indian Mike on paradise. I mean, he's got a trouble running and he's got enough pay now out of Hester. So, he's going to have Harold on the go by the end of the

week with four loose plants running. So the potential of having $1,000 gold are almost guaranteed. If Tony is to hit a record 1,000 ounce hole this week, he needs to run the fresh Hester cut pay. Now let's see if we can find some gold in the pay. And for that he needs to set up his fourth wash plant Harold fast. It's time to build her up. Build him up, I guess. Huh? It's a Harold. First step, build a pad for the 100yard an hour plant. Pile over here, pile in the middle, and a pile over there. Okay. Also, I think about a setback.

It's looking pretty good. We'll pull the plant on. See what it does. Next, install the 30 foot long hopper feeder. Everybody you out away. Straight back land. Straight back. Good. Stop. Oh. Forward. L. Had it on the wrong channel. Finally, connect the hose and fire up the pump that sends water to the plant. What the did they do to this thing? Cuz it's telling me the uh coolant's low. It's over full. I haven't been that lucky with pumps.

Lucas, do you copy? If mechanic Lucas Lots can't fix the pump, Tony's hopes for a four wash plant blitz and thousand week are toast. So, it's either sensor for the coolant or it's the ECM. According to the code, the ECM or electronic control module is the pump's computer. It will not allow the pump to fire up if it can't sense coolant. And you guys have started it and everything. Yep. Going to go have a check at what Col's doing. These engines are pretty common, but best case scenario, I just need to redo some sensor wiring. Worst case, we'll need an ECM and it'll be about a week.

Mike will be pissed. So, the coolant sensor is definitely That's probably why it won't start. It thinks that there's no coolant in it. Yeah, that's over full. These are potentiometers. Sometimes in a pinch, you can use these in place of a sensor if you know what you're doing. With no spare sensors, Lucas plans to bushfix the pump with a potentiometer, a type of variable resistor he hopes can replicate the electronic signal of a working sensor. You just got to match the resistance that the sensor would regularly put out. So, we got it plugged in. So, now I got to play with it. And then once I get it to a sweet spot, the code will go away

and then we're in business theoretically. Well, a little bit. Yeah, it looks like a potentiometer trick worked. So, Mike's going to be more happy than a pig in or pig in gold this time of year, I guess. What's happening, man? I just wanted to let you know we're going to come do the stripping down here this fall for next year. So, the whole stripping crew is coming down. So, we're going to go up and take another bite into the hill. Just keep an eye on them. Um, well, that gets pretty deep over there going to that hillside. There's a lot of mud. We only got couple trucks down here. I'm trying to dig pay, do finds, keep a plant running 24 hours a day. Like we've got uh what five of us

down here running a whole mindset. No, I get 24 hours. I totally get it. It you know, we are where we are. I mean, I know it needs to be done, but doesn't make getting it done any easier. I am aware of that, but they're coming down. All right. Well, we'll uh see what we can do to keep them rolling. Right now, we're just trying to keep this wash plant running. Bringing a bunch more machines down here. It's just more we got to stay on top of. And right now, we got our hands full. It's been a long season, and you know, the end is well within sight.

Parker Schnabble is gaining momentum. With multiple weeks above 500 ounces, he's nearly 700 ounces ahead of Tony in the race to 10,000. But he's already got his eye on next season's prize. Fall time is one of our most productive stripping times um for the next year. And with how much we're sleing these years, the stripping is just incredibly important. We've got a crew just starting our next pit on the Indian River for next year. And in the midst of, you know, trying to keep wash plants running and keep things thought out, Mitch is also, you know, taking that on. Can't understate um how important that part of the company is.

Buddy, what's going on? What's up, man? You made it. How you doing? Good. Oh, love the back. Yeah. How's it going? Oh man, that's a whole different story. Yeah, it's this time of year, man. You know, everybody's tired. It's Oh, yeah. Everyone's ordinary. Everybody's orary, but they'll be happy to see you. And we sure as hell could use an extra set of hands. Where you at now? We're not even at 700. Barely over 600. So, yeah, we're a long ways off, but we're back in Vegas Valley. Okay. You know, pulling some good pay out of there. Let's uh hop in the little Hilux here and go take a look.

All right, let's go take the tour, buddy. Rick Ness's season is finally turning a corner. After 2 months with no gold coming in last week, Rick fired up monster red and pulled out over 200 ounces from Vegas Valley. Holy, that's a big cotton. Yeah, it's uh pretty impressive, eh? For a sevenman crew. These guys move some dirt. We know it's good pay in Vegas Valley for sure. We're going to get on a roll here now. We The last thing that was good. We need them to be a little bit better, but I know they're going to be We need to get a few more hours on the same spots, you know. Well, nothing like setting a fire to everything the last 3 weeks and try and pull it out. So, one way or another, this place is

going to be on fire when I leave. So, anyways, enough chitchat. You want to help out? Yeah. To hit his 1,800 ounce goal and pay his crew their bonus, Rick needs record breaking 400 ounce gold halls every week for the rest of the season. It's that final push. This is when you kind of need that extra little boost of energy. This pivot from Valhalla back into Vegas Valley, I think it's going to be a good thing. We know there's good gold in there and, you know, Bailey's just going to have to get every last ounce out of that cut. I think people are getting tired. I think people are missing uh home. As it stands right now, I don't think anyone's getting a bonus. Even though we've got hay right here and we're

finally got the plant fired up. You know, I don't like to be the negative Nancy, but I don't see 1,800 coming. Hey, Rick, you got a copy? Yeah, go for Rick. I kind of got a big problem in the cut. Could you come down here? I'll see you uh see you in a few minutes. putting in some work here. Yeah, man. I see the problem, though. Yeah, it didn't take long. I thought uh maybe it was going to take longer, but we're moving along really too quick. I guess.

Mhm. Vegas Valley is almost out of pay dirt. Much earlier than Rick expected. So imagine like cleaning that all out. Like it'd be a week. Yeah, we're definitely going to need some more. Yeah. I'd say the only thing we can do is try to expand, but it's not ideal. It's not this time of year. It's not ideal. But really, I'm looking at this piece right here. I mean, that's pay right there. And we're staring at it. Yeah, I know. You don't seem very excited about it. Yeah, I just see all this. It's 40 ft down of material you have to move to get to the pay.

Yep. At the bottom of Vegas Valley, Bailey only has a week's worth of pay. To keep Monster Red fed for the rest of the season, Rick wants to chase Vegas Valley's pay streak upstream. The only problem, Bailey will have to dig down a further 40 ft to hit the gold rich pay. All before winter freezes them out. One way or another, we got to make it till the end of the season. We're still going to get to 1,800 ounces. That's the only way we're going to do it.

I don't know, man. Like what we got left? 3 weeks. Maybe more, maybe less, but it's around there. I just think in three weeks that's we'll make it happen. You just keep the trucks going. Is it going to be worth it for a week's worth of pay? Yep. If it gets to 400 ounces. Yeah. Okay. Definitely. We're not at 1,800 ounces, but uh at the end of the day, I'm I'm I'm trying to make sure these guys go home with gold in their pockets, and that's uh that's all there is to it. I'm just really worried uh with the time that we have and how much work's got to be done and I don't think it's going to work out, but I hope it does. Maybe, you know, in

another week my mind will change, but right now it's uh very stressful. Well, should we fire her back up? If we're going to catch up, we got to put dirt through the plant, right? All righty. After four hours downtime, Bob is back in the game slooing bridge cut pay. You look good. We don't have much time left in the season. So hopefully that's it for downtime here at the Bridge Cut, 100 miles east. Haven't really thought too much of uh the extension or how we're going to do it. The Nest crew need 400 ounces of gold a week in order to hit Rick's 1,800 ounce target.

Bailey is mining out the last of the pay from the Vegas Valley cut. I'm trying not to think about it till I get this Vegas Valley cleaned out. Then we'll move on to that. Holy. Who sifts in this? At Monster Red, Rick's best buddy Z is jumping into the hot seat to load the plant. I still got it. While mechanic Ryan Kent uses a second loader to clear the tailings. Well, Z, it's good to see you back. How's it feel to be back? I mean, how couldn't you like it up here? Look at around. This is like the best office view in the world.

Why do you keep coming back? I mean, it's like a second family up here for me. I always come up in the beginning and the end, but the amount of dirt you guys move this year is pretty substantial. You don't want to be here for the grunt work, do you? Listen, if that was the case, you probably shouldn't tell anyone. Let's keep it between us. Yeah, your secret safe with me on channel one. Oh, what's the matter, Ryan? I don't know. Give me a sec. Hey Z, shut that feeder off real quick, dude.

All right. You're missing a pin somewhere. Where'd you find it? Dude, I literally saw it bounce off, hit the tailing shoot, landed right on the top of the bucket when I was coming out. I knew I should have stayed in the truck. Yep. Let's figure out where the came from. Hey, Z. Yeah. Yeah, it's over here. This ought to be fun. The 2-in pin that connects the grizzly bars to the feeder's hinge has broken in half. I don't want to take a chance and break this feeder doing any damage. Better off trying to get the fixed. You lose this grizzly bar, then you lose the rest of

the season. We got to go find one. The grizzly bar's old pin is too worn out to reuse. So, the guys search for a replacement. A second hopper feeder cuz we were using Monster Red. I bet it is the same. Man, this thing is climb up there. I can measure it. Getting too fat for this. It's 2 in. Is it? That will work. Now we got to get it out. Yeah. We don't have a ladder anywhere, huh?

No. You want to stand on my shoulders? I'm sturdy. This pin looks like it is in there. Oh, it moved. Shut up. It moved. Oh, baby. Oh, that's I was just going to watch where it goes. I need that. Oh, no. It went down the well. Oh, Timmy, let's uh go put the new pin in. Sure you had a bunch of fixes this year. Was this the easiest one? This is by far the easiest one. Well, we're not done yet, dude. It's just been a weird season. Uh no, it's been tough.

We all come up here to work for gold. That's that's the whole reason we come up here and to put in 6 months away from home and your family and your business and not go home with much or anything, that's killer, man. It's tough. I know you got a lot of at home. You're same with me, wife, daughter. I don't need to tell you about how hard it is. Rachel tearing up about, you know, me not being home and she takes on a ton, dude. And it's like, do I just stay home next year?

I don't want to let Rick down, but I also don't want to let my family down. No. So, let's let's focus on small steps. Let's focus on getting this pin in and get back running. And then we have all offseason to figure this out. You can't touch this one. Why? It's cuz it's MC Hammer. I think it's a 20 lb. Yep. Don't hit me in the face. No. That one felt solid. It went. It moved. You want me to do the last one? One more. Ready. Uh-huh. That's it. All right. Pin in. Pin it to win it.

Now you can tell Rick what you did. I didn't do it. Just happened to be here. Time to fire back up. Ryan and Z have lost just 2 hours of slooing and are back in the race to hit the 400 O. Rick needs this week. Sucks having the plant down for a few hours, but I feel a lot better having a pin in there.