Gold Rush: Mine Rescue with Freddy & Juan (2021) s05e02 Episode Script

1
[western music playing]
[Jim] One day,
in the top of the box,
I found 22 nuggets.
This has been a dream,
and it's been a success
right up
until three years ago.
And the big gold ran out.
I don't know what happened.
We put in a second plant,
and we're still getting
the same result.
I just don't know
what I'm doing wrong.
Welcome to our nightmare.
We're trying
to catch more gold.
We need this.
This is our bank account.
[Jim] We got
so much money invested,
we had to borrow
from the bank.
But the line
of credit's maxed out.
[Wendy] Sometimes
he gets sick,
just trying
to figure it all out.
[Jim] I'm very stressed.
There's no backup plan.
I might have to shut down.
[narrator] Freddy Dodge
I'd rather have gold
in the bank
than gold in the mountain.
[narrator]
and Juan Ibarra
Not bad
for built in the field.
[narrator] want
to make you rich.
It turns your dream out here
into a reality.
[all laughing]
[narrator]
In the past five years,
the value of gold has doubled.
[Freddy] There's
a $3,000 nugget
-right there.
-[man whoops]
[narrator]
But rookie miners
[man] Whoa! Whoa. Whoa.
[narrator] find it
more elusive than ever.
If we don't recover more gold,
then we could lose everything.
[narrator]
But there is hope
Miracles, they do happen.
[narrator] to turn
desperation
into fortune.
Freddy and Juan have
one week
What you just did was genius.
[narrator] to deliver
a golden payday.
They have a future
-and they know
what they need to do.
-Woo!
[Juan] You know,
in its heyday,
this area had as many people
as San Francisco at one time.
-[radio beeps]
-Yeah,
and they didn't have roads
like we're driving down.
Those were tough men
and women back then, Fred.
Come out here with barely
what they had on their backs
and provisions in their horse.
-[radio beeps]
-They kept provisions
in their horse?
-[radio beeps]
-[both laugh]
[narrator]
The Cariboo gold rush
of the 1860s saw
thousands of miners descend
on this area,
which produced
over 3.8 million ounces
of gold
worth $8.7 billion
in today's money.
But by 1865,
the stampeders bypassed
the area,
potentially leaving
valuable gold deposits behind.
[Freddy over radio]
Hey, Juan, this has
got to be the road, huh?
-Right after the trommel,
make a left, huh?
-[radio beeps]
[Freddy] Yeah, roger that.
[western music playing]
[Freddy] Put her
in four-wheel drive, Juan.
It's getting a little muddy.
[Juan] We've got to hug
this side as best we can.
[narrator] Freddy and Juan
are sliding their way
to the Gibson Mine,
where Jim Gibson
and Wendy Tuerlings
own an 1,800-acre property
and have amassed
a million dollars' worth
of equipment
to run ancient river gravels
on deposits known as benches.
[music playing]
[Freddy] Rain's
always a [bleep] battle.
[Juan] Freddy's stuck
in the mud.
I can't get around him.
[bleep]
[Freddy] You ever done
this one, Juan?
-[Juan] What's that, Fred?
Use rope as a spider?
-Yeah.
I've got chains
on the front of the truck.
What these will do,
these knots will
hook up in the mud
when you try
to slide sideways.
[Juan] Yeah, it gives you
a little more traction there.
Yeah, we'll make do
with what we got.
We're going to get
Freddy's truck through,
see how that does,
and then my turn.
Down the bank is the river,
so it's going to be
quite a tumble
if we end up
losing one of these trucks.
-Give her hell, Fred.
-[vehicle honks]
[Juan] Freddy's going.
Might be a little rough
trying to get out of this.
Come on, baby. Come on.
Go, go, go, go, go, go.
[victorious music playing]
-That was a close one, Fred.
-[Freddy] Yeah.
[vehicle honks]
-Jim, I assume?
-[Jim] Yes.
How you doing? I'm Juan.
Welcome, Juan.
-We've been excited.
-[Jim] Yes, yes.
So you guys are like J-Lo
in the mining world.
[chuckling]
-More like Jello.
-Jello.
Yeah. [chuckles]
[Juan] How big of a property
do you have?
-1,800 acres all together.
-[Juan] Oh, wow.
-Okay.
-[Jim] We got
a really big chunk.
We just need to figure out
what we're doing wrong.
[Juan] What have you been
making this year?
-[Wendy] An ounce.
-[Jim] Maybe an ounce a day.
[tense music playing]
[Juan] Do you have a goal
for this year?
[Jim] We need to find
100 ounces this season.
[narrator] With 10 ounces
already secured,
Jim and Wendy have around
60 days left on the season
to secure
the remaining 90 ounces.
[Juan] It's going to be closer
to an ounce and a half a day.
-[Jim] Yes.
-Yeah.
So do you have any gold
you can show us?
-This jar used to be full
three years ago.
-[Freddy] Yeah.
[Jim] Had to sell it off.
He's got
some coarse gold, Juan.
[Freddy] But is that
what you're getting this year?
-[Jim and Wendy] No.
-[Freddy] Smaller than this?
Yes. We have a lot of sand.
We can't put as much dirt
through an hour as I could
when I was mining this stuff.
-So the material's got
way sandier then?
-Yeah.
-[Jim] Yeah.
-[Freddy] That tells me
it's a ground.
Did the size
of your gold change?
[ominous music playing]
-[Wendy] Well--
-[Jim] Well,
maybe a little bit.
[Freddy]
More smaller gold now?
-[Jim] Yep, yep.
-Yep.
-So it's a ground.
-[Jim] Yeah.
Well, I don't know
if it's a ground.
I think we're losing a lot
because there's gold
all the way down the box.
[Juan] So how are
your finances doing right now?
Oh, they're not doing good.
We took in
a major investor this year
to buy some big equipment.
We might have
to liquidate everything.
-[Juan] It's a crucial season
for you.
-[Jim] Yes.
It's make or break
this season.
[Wendy] It's hard
when you don't know
really what you're doing,
right?
[narrator] Self-taught miners
Wendy and Jim began
their gold mining adventure
more than 20 years ago.
[Jim] We just went camping,
my wife and I,
and she asked if I knew
how to stake mining claims.
I said, "Oh, yeah, every kid
my age in the Cariboo knows
how to stake mining claims."
[Wendy] Mining was
always interesting.
Gold was interesting to me.
I'd never ever seen it before,
but I always thought it would
be quite cool to try it.
Really, really fine
black sand.
[narrator]
With bills mounting up,
Wendy's son John provides
free labor
to help their operation.
With Jim, he's this is
what he's passionate about
and I think
until he loses a leg,
he'll be down here
digging holes in the ground.
They've had a rough go here
these last few years.
Hopefully this year is
the year that we're going
to turn things around.
[narrator]
As the big gold disappeared,
Jim doubled down
with an extra plant
to increase production.
[Jim] The second wash plant,
I didn't pay for that.
I I borrowed
the money for that.
We sold the house
and I put in well in excess
of $300,000
of my own money into the mine.
We just need to figure out
what we're doing wrong.
[Juan] So you guys ready
to run right now?
We are ready to run,
with only one plant
because one
of our pumps is down.
[Freddy] Let's run
a four-hour test
with just one plant.
-[Wendy] Okay. Yep.
-[Juan] Let's do it.
[narrator] While Jim fires up
the plant
John gets ready to load pay
in the 270 excavator.
[Freddy] They've got just
so much money invested
that every speck
of gold counts.
The sandier pay tells me
they're
in a different deposit,
but it still could be
good for them
if it's processed
in the right way.
[Juan] There it is,
first bucket, Fred.
[narrator] Pay is fed
into the six-foot shaker deck,
where water washes
gold-bearing material
off the rocks.
The larger waste material is
discarded off the end,
while the fines get caught
in the sluice below.
[Freddy] The way
they talked earlier,
you know, I believe
that the ground's changing
-on them.
-[Juan] Change-- Yeah.
[Freddy] There's a bunch
of mud coming off.
[Juan] Yeah, right there.
There's quite a bit there.
[Freddy] Juano,
I'm going to go down
and see what
these tailings look like.
[Juan] All right. Careful,
some of those big suckers
coming down, Fred.
[Freddy] Yo!
It's pretty dirty, Juan!
Can't even get it
off the rocks.
[Jim] I've never tested
the backside of it.
[narrator] The pay dirt isn't
being washed
off the waste rock,
known as tailings.
[Juan] One, two,
three, four
-[Freddy] This.
-[Juan]five, six.
-Probably 20
or so pieces in there.
-[Freddy] Yeah.
[Juan] Four or five are
pretty substantial.
[Freddy] Fifty
So out of every bucket,
we're losing,
what do you think,
a couple bucks?
Oh, yeah, I would say that.
How many buckets
are we doing a day?
We're doing 30 an hour,
times 12,
so 360.
We could be losing
as much as a quarter
to half of our gold every day.
[dramatic music playing]
I'm going to go in,
just one second.
[Juan] Fred,
those are packed hard.
[narrator] A packed sluice
forces gold
across the compacted material
and out the end.
[Freddy] Well,
you can see the pitch on,
it's not steep enough, Juan.
[Juan] Well, we definitely
have a lot to think about.
-We do.
-There's a lot going on.
Four hours right on the money.
Last bucket!
I'd say a few pieces
of gold, huh, Juan?
-There's gold
in the box, so
-[Wendy] Yeah.
-that's a plus.
-[Wendy] Yeah.
Well, why don't
you guys pull your mats,
and we'll go from there.
[Wendy] Okay.
[Juan] You know, Freddy,
his plant, you know,
there's a couple
of processes there
that are just a little
overly complicated, I think.
[Freddy] I do, too.
[Wendy] You know,
it takes forever.
[Freddy] Jim, what do
you have for a table,
and where's it at?
[Jim] For a shaker table?
It's not working.
-[Freddy] Where's it at?
-Over here.
[narrator]
A working gold table could
make cleanups faster
and increase recovery
of fine gold.
How long's it taking you
to do your cleanups, Jim?
[Jim] It takes
my wife about
four hours.
If I get this working for you,
it's going to speed you up
a bunch, huh?
[Jim] Oh, yeah.
[Freddy] It needs to be
mounted onto something solid.
You know, this trailer,
even though it's a trailer,
it's still on wheels,
it's on springs.
When you move
your body around,
you know, you can
feel the trailer move.
So let me try
to get this going for you.
And if we can take,
you know, an hour and a half
off your cleanup time,
that's an hour and a half
you can be running
instead of cleaning up.
Yeah, yeah.
We need this to work
this summer.
We need that extra money
to come back in.
[Juan] Really,
I'm a little worried
that, you know,
we could do all these repairs
and get this shaker table
working properly
and get
the sluices adjustable,
but if the ground
that we're running
still doesn't have gold,
it may not be enough for them.
[Freddy] The logistics of it
in the time period
we're here are
not good.
[Juan] If you let your bucket
fill up all the way,
-it might be
a little easier for you.
-[Wendy] Oh, yeah, okay.
[narrator]
In British Columbia,
at the Gibson mine,
Wendy cleans the gold
from the four-hour test.
-[Freddy] Got to work, Wendy.
-[Wendy] Okay.
-Just go like this?
-[Freddy] Yep.
[Wendy] We've been spoiled
because we've been
finding the nuggets.
We were finding nice nuggets
all the time.
Now we're
kind of disappointed.
[Freddy] Every minute you can
save on your cleanup,
it's more run time
-where you can get more gold.
-[Wendy and Jim] Mm-hmm.
-Thanks, Fred.
-[Freddy] Here you go.
Go dry it up,
then we'll weigh it.
[western music playing]
[narrator]
To clear their debts,
Jim and Wendy need the test
to produce
half an ounce of gold.
[Wendy] Hey, guys.
Got it all cooked up for you.
[Freddy] Okay.
Here we go.
[Juan] 0.23, Fred.
-[Freddy] 0.23.
-[Juan] Yeah.
-It's beautiful gold
-[Juan] Mm-hmm.
but beautiful doesn't
pay the bills.
[narrator] Less than
half the amount they need
to turn a profit.
[Jim] Looks like five
or six times more fines
than coarse, huh?
You're losing gold,
but I think the biggest issue
is the ground.
[Wendy] Okay.
Well, what Freddie
and I are going to do
is check out your cut
before we even think
about what we need
to do with the plant.
[Wendy] We're
really behind this year.
And I hope
that Freddy and Juan can
help us get on our feet again.
[Freddy] I'll grab a pan, Jim.
[Jim] Okay.
[narrator] Before any plans
on the plant can be made,
Freddy must inspect the ground
they've mined.
[Freddy]
Most of their gold here
is fine gold,
so you want to tune things up
to catch what you have
the most of the best.
[narrator] Jim's claim is
staked over various benches,
once the banks
of a river or stream,
left high up
on the side of a valley.
If these river gravels are
reworked by water,
they can hold
concentrated pockets of gold.
[Jim] Just over here is
where it deposited
all the huge rocks.
That was where
we were hitting our gold.
[Freddy] Do you have
any of that cut open?
[Jim] No, we pretty well
cleaned it right up.
But this is
the material over here.
-[Freddy] This material is
what we ran on the first test?
-Yeah.
[Freddy]
Every rock's telling me
the last time
water hit this gravel,
the water was going this way,
like at an angle like that.
It's called shingling.
Here's a prime example
without getting caved in on.
See this flat rock here?
See how the big end was
pointed right that way.
Right?
So you got your big end
and then your tail downstream.
Good thing about this is
-it got reworked by water.
-Oh, okay.
[Freddy] That's nature's
sluice box there.
We know the gold's here,
'cause we got, you know,
some in that first test,
but it's just not enough.
There's got to be
some gold left here.
And if he wants to make
his 100-ounce goal,
we're probably going to have
to look around the property
and keep our fingers crossed
we can find
some different pay.
[Freddy] We'll figure
some stuff out,
-eh, Juano?
-[Juan] Yeah.
Well, Freddy, you know,
from the sounds of it,
they're kind of
in a tough spot.
They were doing good gold.
Yeah. You and I both know
that that's typically
an indicator
of different ground.
-It's changed on them.
-Yep.
You know, you start getting
some of that finer material,
you're going to have
a lot more going down
the sluice box.
-Yep.
-So it's allowing
that material to pack up.
That's exactly right.
We know they're losing gold
out the back
-Yeah.
-because there's
mud on the rocks.
Yeah, it's not getting
a proper wash.
I'm thinking of actually using
high-pressure water.
[Freddy] Mm-hmm.
[Juan] And what we'll do is
we'll set up
a big high-pressure pump
and have six nozzles
on the top of that,
where we have
that high-pressure water
hitting that material
-to break it up.
-Yeah.
Hopefully we can get the table
back up and running,
put it on a pad
-[Freddy] Mm-hmm.
-and actually have a tool
that they can use
for cleanups.
[Freddy] Mm-hmm.
-Something that's simple.
-Yeah.
The other thing I really want
to focus on as well is,
you know, right now,
our test run,
we were only able
to run one plant.
Well, we've got to get
the other one going.
Yeah, exactly. If we can get
that second plant running
-[Freddy] Yeah.
-you know, that in itself
is going to increase
his production by 100%.
[Freddy] Yep, exactly.
I like it.
-Cheers, buddy.
-Cheers.
[narrator] To get
the second plant running,
Freddy and Juan will
bring in a new pump.
Then, to ensure
both plants catch
all the gold,
they'll build
two new high-powered
spray bars,
which will increase
the pressure by 50 times
to 300 psi
and wash all the pay
off the rocks.
To prevent
each sluice clogging
with changeable material,
Juan will create
a never-seen-before
scissor mount
instantly adjustable
for capturing fine gold
and nuggets.
Finally, to reduce
Wendy's four-hour cleanup,
Freddy will find a new home
for the shaker table
and get it back up
and running.
[upbeat music playing]
[birds chirping]
[Juan] Hey.
[Freddy] What do you say, Jim?
[Jim] Hello there.
You know, if you have
any chance
of being able
to make this viable,
-you're going to have to have
both plants running.
-[Wendy] Okay.
Then I want to get
that table going.
We'll have to pour a pad
for the table
and get it up and running,
find out
what's wrong with it
-[Wendy] Okay.
-[Freddy]to save you time
on your cleanups.
-Yeah, that's what we need is
that table working.
-[Freddy] Mm-hmm.
Freddie went on the end
of the wash plant.
You're not getting
a proper wash.
To fix that,
what we want to do
is we want to be able
to concentrate
high-pressure water.
[Freddy] Like a car wash.
-[Juan] Basically
a car wash, yeah.
-[Wendy] Okay. Okay.
[Freddy] Yeah, 0.23 doesn't
pay the bills for you.
-[Jim] No. No, no,
right now it's
-No.
You have too much iron here
to be able to,
yeah, get away
with a quarter of an ounce.
-Just our fuel bill.
-[Juan] Yeah.
What we're planning is
we want to work
on the sluice boxes,
so that way, that material
that's coming down,
we can concentrate it in
a little bit.
[Freddy] And we can add
a little bit
-of pitch on it as well.
-[Wendy] Okay.
[Juan] Have
a little more pitch, yep.
Yeah, that's kind of the plan.
And honestly, you know,
between all that,
it's kind of a big number.
You know, we're looking
at about $9,000 in material.
And then 2 and half ounces
apiece.
[tense music playing]
[Juan] I know
that's a big number,
but genuinely,
that's just strictly going
to be parts.
Okay. That sounds
very reasonable.
Well, if you guys are
good with it, let's do it.
-[Jim and Wendy] Yep.
-[Juan] We'll get
to ordering parts.
[Jim] Thank you very much.
Yep. We'll get after it.
-All right. Awesome.
-[Wendy] Okay.
-[Juan] Thank you.
-Thank you very much.
-[Freddy] See you in a bit.
-[Wendy and Jim] Yep.
[Wendy] Wow.
Okay.
Yeah. Holy smokes.
It's just that we're
coming together.
Trying to figure
everything out by myself
has been kind of tough.
And it's nice to have
these guys here to
make my life a little easier.
[Juan] If they want to be able
to tune this plant up
to be able to collect
that fine gold,
they're going to have to spend
some money to make money.
Well, the first thing
we need to get done is
get this concrete poured
because it has to have
some time to set up.
[narrator] A pad of concrete
will give the shaker table
a firm and flat base
to be screwed into
[Freddy] Beats mixing it
in a wheelbarrow.
-[Juan] Yeah.
-[Jim] Yeah.
[narrator] and will need
to be strong enough
to support over a ton
of vibrating equipment.
[Freddy] What we're
doing here is just adding
a little bit of scrap steel
in here.
It helps
the concrete hold together.
It's like the backbone
in the concrete.
[Juan] The flatter
we get this,
it'll be better for us,
the less adjustment
we have to do on the legs.
[Freddy] Looks good.
Realistically, this is almost
like a double rescue,
because it's two plants
we've got to fix.
But it will be worth it,
you know?
Hop in, Jim.
Let's go look at that bench.
[narrator] On the Gibson mine,
Freddy and Jim continue
the hunt for new ground
[Juan] Looks like they got
some old drill rod there.
That might be
the only option we have.
[narrator] while Juan
scavenges material
for his new spray bar.
[Juan] So the way it's going
to work is it's going to be
a high-pressure spray bar.
It's not going to get it
perfectly clean,
but if it can help
start breaking
some of that material up
before it starts getting
scrubbed on the deck,
that would definitely help.
You know, it's something
that we've never done before,
so it may or may not work,
but it's worth a try.
And if it does work,
it's going to help them out
tremendously
to be able to help get
some of that gold
that's locked up in that clay.
[narrator] Juan's custom
spray bar should
clean the rocks
and increase
the fine gold recovery
by up to 30%.
[Wendy] Hey, Juan.
-[Juan] Hey, Wendy.
How you doing?
-What you up to?
[Juan] Oh, just
getting some parts.
If you want to give me a hand,
-we'll start putting them
on the spray bars.
-Sure.
So I'm going to start
the holes for the spray bar.
[drilling]
Then we're going
to drill them out
a little bit bigger,
and then we'll tap them.
Now, instead of having
a spray bar,
that's, you know,
maybe hitting 5 or 6 PSI,
we're gonna have concentrated
300 PSI right on the material.
[Wendy] Oh, wow.
[Juan] So, tell me
a little bit about you.
What makes Wendy tick?
[Wendy] What makes me tick?
Jeez--
-Jim? Jim makes you tick?
-[Wendy] Yeah, sometimes.
[both laugh]
In a good way,
in a bad way sometimes?
[Wendy] Well, yeah.
We usually get along
pretty good.
[Juan]
It's not an easy career.
You gotta have
a strong support network,
and my support network
is my wife, my kids
-[Wendy] Mm-hmm.
-and you gotta have it.
And it looks like you guys
have that as well.
So, now you were born
in the States, you said, huh?
-Yeah, I was born
in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota
-[Juan] Okay.
[Wendy]
and I came to Canada.
And when I was,
uh, 11 years old,
-the Children's Aid Society
came and took me away.
-[Juan] Mm-hmm.
I come from
the White Earth Reservations.
I kinda got stuck
in the social works.
I missed my mom.
[voice shaking]
And I hadn't seen her
for years,
and I never ever even thought
I would see her again.
Really? Wow.
The Sixties Scoop
is when the Canadian
government came in
and went through the reserves
and started packing kids out
and putting them up
for adoption
or putting them
in foster homes.
[narrator]
Over a 30-year period,
Indigenous children
were taken from their families
by welfare authorities
and fostered or adopted out
to settler families.
The government's aim
was to assimilate
Indigenous people.
But for the estimated
20,000 children involved,
the effects were devastating.
[voice shaking]
That's what happened
to native kids.
Um
I was stolen.
It's been a rough life for me.
[Juan] Both Freddy and I
are very passionate
about what we do,
but to understand
where you're coming from,
the injustices that were done
to you as a kid,
hopefully, we can
help you out,
where you can start
-Yeah.
-[Juan]and be able
to make up some of that time
that you did lose as a child.
[Wendy] Time lost,
and, you know, coming up
with these new fixes
that'll help us collect
more gold,
there'll be more
of an opportunity to me
to travel
and visit my parents and
my sisters and brothers,
my aunts and uncles.
They're all over the place.
I know the fixes
that we're doing to the plant
are gonna help you
tremendously.
[in normal voice]
It's gonna be exciting
to see it.
[Juan] I'm excited
to see it, too.
[Wendy] Thank you, Juan.
-Hey, no problem.
-[Wendy] Thanks.
-Thanks for sharing
that with me.
-Yep.
[thunder rumbling]
[rain patters]
[Freddy] Damn rain now.
[Jim] This is
an interior rainforest,
and we do get a lot of rain.
By the size of the trees,
you know that there's been
no mechanical operation
in here.
[narrator] On the other side
of the claim
-[Freddy] Right here, huh?
-[Jim] This is the spot.
[narrator] Jim takes
Freddy to a bench deposit
he believes has potential.
[Jim] So, this is the stuff
where it was different layers.
[Freddy] Yeah,
it doesn't look good.
Doesn't look good, hey?
[Freddy] Well, you can see
there's tailings there,
tailings there.
-This is definitely tailings.
-[Jim] Yeah.
[Freddy] All through here.
Let's go look over here.
See how the rocks
are laying in there, Jim?
[Jim] Uh-huh.
[Freddy] So, this hasn't been
reworked much.
It doesn't mean
there's not gold in it,
but it hasn't
been reconcentrated.
[narrator]
Yet to find good ground
Freddy continues his search
along the bench.
[Freddy] Yeah, this looks
better, actually.
[Jim] Does it look
reworked at all to you?
This looks
reworked some, yeah.
You can see here
in that bedrock
where it's decomposed,
see where those gravels
have got in it
after the bedrock
was broken up?
So, once that gold
gets in there,
it isn't getting out.
This could be your future
up in here
for a while, anyway.
This is all virgin material.
If the Cornell River
is there
and you can see the bench
in the distance there,
it should be good,
because it's been
reworked a lot.
I think this is your future.
It's just, uh, I don't know
if we can get at it
while Juan and myself
are here.
[Jim] Yeah.
So much rain this year,
and still rain.
Yeah, I've learned
a few tricks.
I've learned how to read
the ground a lot better
than I knew before.
[Freddy] We looked
at some ground
that that looks
pretty good.
But we can't get
the material here.
It's sunny now,
but it's been raining
and raining and raining.
The road's just a mud hole.
So, there's no getting
to that.
So, we're gonna have to run
just the same type material
for the second test.
And, uh, see
what it gives us.
[Juan] All right, well,
there's the beginning of it.
Pretty cool setup.
I'm excited to try it out,
see how it works.
It'll be a game changer.
[narrator] Spray bar complete,
Juan moves on to the first
of two scissor lifts
for the sluice,
driven by a piston
which can lift up
to 3,000 pounds.
As the gear drive,
that runs a screw up and down.
We're gonna us
that motion to be able
to lift up the scissor,
to be able to adjust
that sluice box.
Once we get
that welded in place,
we got a good template.
I'll be able to build
the second one.
[narrator]
The unique scissors system
will mean Jim
can easily change
the pitch of the box.
Fine-tuned
for different types of pay,
it will reduce the chance
of the riffles packing up.
We got two plants
that are nearly identical.
You know, we've had
to double up everything
we're doing.
There definitely is a lot more
work going on.
It'll be worth it, you know.
Now, more than ever,
it's important that we get
both plants working properly.
Even if I gotta stay here
a little late tonight
and maybe come in
early tomorrow,
we'll get it done.
[narrator] Coming up
[Wendy] I feel bad. Ow!
-It hurts.
-Okay.
[Jim] She's in a lot of pain.
She needed to go
to the hospital for X-rays.
It's tough
but she's tough.
[Juan] You know, for something
that we put together
here, uh, on-site
with just a few parts
that we had,
I'm pretty happy with it.
[narrator] At the Gibson Mine
in British Columbia,
Juan and Jim finish
the scissor lift
for the first wash plant.
[Juan] It looks
pretty dang good.
[Jim] Actually,
I'm a university graduate
for two years to take welding.
I worked graveyard,
and I went to school
during the day
for nine months.
That's pretty cool.
Now, how long have you guys
been out here?
[Jim] It was after I got
in my accident.
What happened
during your accident?
[Jim]
It was a Friday afternoon.
I had just put
a new motor in my truck.
And I climbed underneath it,
touched the linkage,
and it shifted into reverse,
and my vehicle
rolled over on top of me.
[Juan] Wow.
[ambulance siren wailing]
[Jim] They didn't even know
if I was gonna make
the first 12 hours.
I broke all my ribs,
and what they call
a flail chest,
I'd never heard
of that before.
[narrator] In 2004,
Jim suffered
a horrific accident
when he was crushed under
his three-quarter-ton truck.
[Jim] I was in the ICU
four weeks.
Three weeks, I was in a coma.
This mine was my total rehab,
walking 15, 20 kilometers
a day, back and forth.
I credit this mine
with making me better.
I don't know what I'd do
if I had
to liquidate everything.
[Freddy] Man,
that's gotta be tough.
Sorry, Jim.
What happened is a nightmare.
Hopefully, for
the second test run,
we'll be able
to get you tuned in,
and and get it
where it needs to be.
He's lucky to be alive.
So, it's even more important
now than ever
to get all this work done.
Yeah, that's just,
uh, what we have to do.
[Freddy] You wanna cut
a strip of carpet for in here,
two and a quarter inches wide.
[narrator] To give Jim
and Wendy any chance
to recover fine gold,
Freddy has to revive
the broken shaker table.
[Wendy] We were spoiled
for so many years.
We had the nuggets
and the heavy gold.
Now, we're into the gravel,
so it's finer,
and this is where
we have to catch it.
[narrator] A shaker table
is used to separate
valuable fine gold
from other
worthless material.
Water and gravity push
the gold into mini riffles,
away from the other
difficult-to-pan elements.
[Freddy] You want the coin
to move down the table
at a nice rate.
It's erratic as heck,
isn't it?
Right now, it's taken
one step forward,
half a step back.
The way it was set up,
it would have never worked.
The bumper system
on the end of it
is inadequate.
So, we're gonna modify this,
and try to get this table
working better
than they probably
ever had it working.
Hopefully, anyway,
fingers crossed.
[narrator] Freddy's plan?
Attach rubber bumpers
to the table mechanism
to reduce the impact
of each oscillation.
[Wendy] You want me
hold it for you?
[Jim] Yeah.
[Wendy] I'm really counting
on Freddy with this one,
but, you know,
it's always a gamble.
[sighs]
It is what it is, right?
We just gotta keep on going.
You know,
that's how mining is.
You keep on going.
[Juan] So, I'm gonna crawl
under here.
We're gonna get ready
to install those
scissor lifts.
By putting those
scissor lifts in,
we're gonna put them
underneath the sluice box,
so that way, we can actually
have full range of motion.
[narrator] Over at the plant,
with both scissor lifts built,
Juan begins on the install.
[Juan] It's definitely
a tight fit.
Luckily, I'm, uh,
I'm very agile.
I'm agile like a cat.
Jim, get get me
one of the lift systems.
I'm gonna finish
welding this up,
then I gotta jump
on the next one.
[Jim] What a nice piece
of engineering.
We can adjust it on the fly
when we're running
different materials,
sand, gravels.
[Freddy] It's already
towards the end of the day,
but, uh, we still have hours
of work left to go,
so we're gonna have
to stay here tonight
as long as we have to,
to be able to get
all this done.
So that way, tomorrow morning,
we're ready to run.
[Freddy] Don't turn it off.
[narrator] On the other side
of the claim,
Freddy has fixed
the vibration rake
on the table,
and now turns
his attention to the water.
[Freddy] We got water now.
I kinda thought
maybe it would be fairly easy,
but no, it's not.
Hope, that's all we have
to work with right now.
Hope, hope, hope.
[Freddy] Whoever did this,
they necked down
three-quarter to half inch,
so that's restricting us.
I think we need to replace it
with something bigger.
It looks like we may have
enough water now to run this.
-Are you ready, Wendy?
-[Wendy] I'm ready.
I'm excited.
[machine whirring]
[Freddy] It's working now.
We've done a lot
of stuff here,
we got a water system
hooked up to it now.
Hooked through
trial and error.
We got it figured out.
See that piece
of gold that's in our
high-grade groove,
where we want it, right?
[Wendy laughs]
[Freddy] Quicker than panning.
[Wendy] It is, yeah.
It's a miracle
just to have it running
and be able to see the gold
running off the table.
[Freddy] We made it
from scrap iron and plastic
to something
that that works.
-[Wendy] Yeah, Freddy,
I'm gonna give you a hug.
-Okay.
This table's gonna help them
recover more of the fine gold,
which could be a big deal
for Jim and Wendy's future.
We got to get almost
everything done today
so we can run tomorrow.
[horn honking]
[Freddy] Well,
here's the pump.
[narrator]
Freddy's called in a favor
to secure a new pump
that will provide
over 3,000 gallons a minute
to the second plant
[Freddy] We can pick it up,
and we can put it in place.
[narrator] in the hopes
of doubling production.
[Freddy] What do you think
about there, John?
Yeah, we should be able
to make that work, eh?
[Freddy] Let's watch it run.
That will be our second test.
[beeps]
[machine whirring]
[Freddy] Fire it up, Jim!
[machine whirring]
[Freddy]
First bucket, Juan.
Yeah, come down
just a little bit.
[narrator] Juan's
scissor lift sluices
are calibrated
to match the material.
Good, good.
That's perfect.
[Wendy] Jim!
[groans]
Oh!
[Wendy] No.
[narrator] Five minutes
into the second test
[Freddy] Shut her down!
[narrator] time is called,
and the run is abandoned.
-I feel bad.
-Yeah, I know.
-[Wendy] Ow! It hurts.
-Okay.
Oh, shoot. I came down
running to go grab a bolt
for that wash plant,
and I tripped and fell.
I hurt my shoulder.
She's in a lot of pain,
and she needed to go
for X-rays.
Too bad.
Her whole life down here
was doing the cleanups,
but she needed
to go to the hospital.
-[Juan sighs]
-[Freddy] Juano.
Good day.
-Good and bad, huh?
-[Juan] Yeah.
[narrator] In a moment
of downtime
Oh, what do we got?
Whoa! Look at that.
[narrator]
Freddy and Juan sample
a local golden delicacy.
[waitress] This is
all 100% edible.
-Wow.
-[Freddy] So, that's real
gold, right?
[waitress] 24-karat gold.
[Freddy] You know me
and gold, Juan.
-[Juan] Yeah.
-So I'm not using
the toilet tonight.
[Juan and Freddy laughing]
[narrator] At the Gibson Mine,
with Wendy off to hospital,
Jim and son, John, continue
on with the second test.
[whirring]
It's gonna be simple now
to move the box up and down.
Juan did a fantastic
engineering job.
-[Juan] The material
is quite a bit cleaner.
-[Jim] Yeah.
[Juan] That spray bar
helped a ton.
[narrator] Juan's new
spray bars clean the pay
with 50 times more
water pressure.
[Juan] They're running
a lot more material,
and it's a lot cleaner
than it's ever been.
Everything seems to be
running pretty good.
[narrator] The two plants
now run a combined
70 yards an hour,
more than double
the previous test.
Last bucket!
[whirring stops]
Well, that definitely
kept me busier.
[Jim] Oh, I see gold.
[narrator]
With the mats pulled,
Freddy puts the resurrected
gold table to the test.
It didn't work at all before,
-but now we'll get
you your fine gold
-[John] Yeah.
which you guys
were losing a lot of.
[John] That's the difference
between making a dollar
and breaking even, right?
-[Freddy] That might be
your fuel bill
-[John] Yeah.
[Freddy]getting
thrown away.
[John] That's right.
[Freddy] It's catching
the gold.
[John] Yeah,
it's catching 90, 95% of it,
I would say, hey.
-[Freddy] Yeah. Well,
let's let it finish up here.
-[John] Okay.
[Freddy] And, uh, get
the gold on the scale,
and see what we got.
[Jim]
How's it looking, Freddy?
[Freddy] There's gold.
[narrator] Gold cleaned
in half the time,
Jim is joined by John
and grandson, Logan.
[Freddy] Let's see
what we got, guys.
-You guys ready for this?
-[Freddy] There was, what,
0.23 the first time, right?
[Juan] Yeah, 0.23 out
of a four-hour run.
[Freddy] Pour it, Juano.
[narrator] To hit their goal
of 1.5 ounces a day,
Jim needs the four-hour test
to deliver half an ounce.
[Juan] Well,
that's 0.26 right there.
That's already more than
what we did on our first run.
Yeah.
-[Freddy laughs]
-[Juan] There you go,
half an ounce.
[Freddy] 0.50.
[Juan] You guys
run 12-hour days here,
so that's an ounce and a half.
[narrator]
In less than 60 days,
the Gibsons could reach
their 100-ounce gold,
worth $230,000.
That's the most fines
I've ever seen
in the cleanup up here.
[Jim] This will make
a whole difference
this season,
and we can start
paying all our bills.
[Juan] Well, we hope so.
When you get
into that better material,
it will really show that.
-[Freddy] Yeah,
it should shine.
-[Juan] Yep.
Not only is your plant
working properly now,
you know, you got
a gold table now that
that actually runs.
[laughs]
Well, gentlemen,
uh, it has been great.
[Freddy]
We better hit the road.
We got more miners to help.
[Jim] I'm gonna miss you guys,
-and I miss you already.
-[Freddy and Juan laugh]
-[Freddy] Thank you, sir.
-[Juan] Hey, send our best
to Wendy.
-Thank you so much.
-[John] Thank you.
Thank you.
All right, we better
get out of here, guys.
Thanks again, guys.
-[Juan] I'm happy with it.
-[Freddy] Yeah, I am, too.
-Both plants are running.
-Yeah.
-It wasn't when we got here.
-Yeah.
Right? We couldn't
get to the ground
we wanted to test
-because of the mud
-[Juan] Yeah.
because of the rain
and no road in there.
As they get into
that better material,
-that number's
gonna come up a lot.
-Yeah, it will.
Yeah. But, uh,
at the end, you know,
I I feel that we won.
-[Freddy] Well, we beat it.
-Yeah.
-Well, let's head out
to the next one, huh?
-All right.
We got more miners to help.
Let's do it.
[Jim] The end result
was really good.
I think we're gonna double
our gold production.
Maybe even more than that.
[horns tooting]
[Jim] The future is so bright
that, uh, I might have
to wear these.
Hey, Freddy and Juan.
How are you doing?
Sorry that we didn't get
to say goodbye.
Things have changed
quite a bit.
[Jim] The spot
where Freddy took us to,
boy, oh, boy, it's
it's really good.
This is five ounces
of gold that we got
in less than three days.
[Wendy] We're almost
at the 100-ounce mark.
You forgot to tell him
how your shoulder is.
Oh! Yeah, my shoulder's good.
I'm doing well. Thanks.
[Jim] I'd just like
to thank Freddy and Juan.
Hope one of these days,
our paths cross again.
[Wendy] You did
a great job for us.
This is the most
life-changing experience.
[Jim] Thank you
very much, you guys.
We'll never forget you.