Gold Rush: Mine Rescue with Freddy & Juan (2021) s05e04 Episode Script
The Goldy Locks
1
You ready, Jamey?
Oh, we have a tremendous case
of gold fever.
It's bad.
[Christine] Gold
is at the highest price
it's ever been.
And so it's an absolute
real reason to be out here.
Gold fever is a real thing.
[Jamey] Hold on, Christine.
Something's going on
with the water.
Okay. Copy.
[Jamey] Freddy, Juan,
we really, really
could use your help.
With every fix
that we come up with,
it creates
three more problems.
We should have left
the plant the way it was.
Each season in passing,
it's getting worse.
If we can't increase
our gold recovery,
make this work this year,
then I think we're done.
-This will be it.
-This will be it.
[narrator] Freddy Dodge
I'd rather have gold
in the bank
than gold in the mountain.
[narrator]
and Juan Ibarra
Not bad for building a field.
[narrator] want
to make you rich.
It turns your dream out here
into reality.
[all laughing]
[narrator] In the past
five years,
the value of gold has doubled.
-[Freddy] There's
a $3,000 nugget right there.
-[Juan] Whoo!
-[narrator]
But rookie miners
-[man] Whoa, whoa, whoa.
[narrator] find it
more elusive than ever.
If we don't recover more gold,
than 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 is genius.
[narrator] to deliver
a golden payday.
They have a future
and they know
what they need to do.
-[Freddy] I'll take
a fudge nut parfait.
-[man] All right.
[Juan] Uh, let me
do a brownie delight.
Good call
on the ice-cream, Freddy.
[Freddy] It's melting
quick, Juan.
[Juan] Look
at that view, Freddy.
-[Freddy] That's pretty, huh?
-[Juan] Yeah.
We gotta be really close
to the Grand Canyon
from here, huh, Fred?
The old timers
set up
so there's definitely
gold here.
Do you know
when the first prospectors
got in here?
The old, old timers was 1880s.
-[Juan] That's cool. Well,
should we go see the girls?
-Let's do it.
[narrator] Freddy and Juan
are en route
to Chicks with Picks claim
owned by Jamey D'anna
and Christine Crnek,
who in the last two years
have spent
thousands of dollars
on their new wash plant,
to turn their hobby mine
into a professional operation.
The hostile desert conditions
and lack of water
slowed down the first wave
of stampeders in the 1880s.
But those who were
hardy enough
recovered over $13,000 ounces
of gold
worth nearly $30 million
in today's money.
Now, with gold at a staggering
$2,300 an ounce,
Freddy and Juan have one week
to decode this operation
and turn it around.
-[Juan] Hello.
-Hello.
-[Freddy] Hi, ladies.
How you doin'?
-Welcome, gentlemen.
-Hi there.
-Good.
-Juan.
-Christine.
[Freddy] Nice
to meet you, Jamey.
Well, let me ask you ladies
a question.
What got you into gold mining?
-Basically, since COVID.
-COVID started everything.
Yeah.
I am a hairdresser
for about 20 years.
When COVID hit,
with the, you know,
mandated shutdowns,
we were part of it.
[Christine] Jamey's
business shutdown.
Mine was doing nothing,
you know.
and we said
we need to get outside.
[Jamey] Christine's father,
he's had this property
for over 30 years.
He started talking about gold.
[Christine] He was considering
selling it.
And we said, "Wait a minute."
And when we really found out
how much gold is out here,
we decided that we wanted
to purchase it all.
The idea of a treasure hunt,
to me,
it was, like, "Oh, yes.
Let's do this."
[Christine] We knew
right there
we had gold fever.
This is the place we wanna be.
We wanna mine gold.
So we said,
we're gonna give it a go.
We both have enough experience
in business and production
and figuring things out.
We're girl MacGyvers.
[narrator] With gold fever
set in,
they invested
in a professional set up.
[narrator] But then,
life threw them
another challenge.
Two years ago,
I got diagnosed
with rheumatoid arthritis.
And sometimes,
it cripples me to the point
where I can't get out
of the bed in the morning.
[narrator]
Rheumatoid arthritis or RA
is a degenerative
autoimmune disease
that attacks the joints.
[Jamey] Christine tries
to muscle through
and lot of times
people don't even realize
she is as sick as she is.
You know
[Jamey] It's just really sad
to watch her suffer.
To see Freddy and Juan here,
it feels like the cavalry
is here.
There's hope
that we can turn this around
because I can't do it
on my own.
I just-- I can't.
Unfortunately, I ought to
take a medicine twice a month
that is thousands of dollars.
And we really need help
to find more gold
to get stuff taken care of.
Because, you know,
it's stressful.
-[Jamey] Absolutely.
-I can see that.
It makes it very hard
for her, physically,
so to help alleviate
some of that manual labor,
-that would be fantastic.
-[Juan] Understood.
Now, how long have you guys
been running this year so far?
Uh, we've been out here,
what, like, uh
-In the March.
-eight weeks.
-Yeah.
-Between eight to ten weeks.
So little two and half months.
So what kind of money
you have invested into this?
-It's about $150,000.
-Okay.
This is the type of gold
that we have here.
[Freddy] That's
some pretty gold.
They're mainly finds, huh?
Yes. Our first season
was pretty decent.
Especially, being
the first season.
-[Freddy] How many ounces
did you do?
-We did ten ounces.
[Juan] Okay, it's not bad.
[Jamey] The second season
wasn't as good.
Uh, we did about five ounces.
And this year,
we've barely done
over an ounce.
Really?
What's your goal
for this year?
[Christine] We'd love to be
at 50 ounces this year.
This is the goal
that we wanna be able
to run at.
[Freddy] And that's
before summer runs you out?
[Christine] That's what
we're shooting for.
So you've got
about 50 days left then.
-[Christine] Yep, absolutely.
-[Jamey] Yes.
[narrator] Arizona season runs
from October through to June
as monsoons and extreme heat
make summer mining impossible.
[Freddy] It takes a special
breed of person to be out here
in the desert.
Christine and Jamey,
they've worked their butts off
to do what they've done here
in the time they've done it.
But at the same time,
these ladies did ten ounces
the first year.
And now they've got
a target goal of 50 ounces.
So whether that can be done
or not, I don't know.
So, uh, tell us
about the plan.
[Christine] All right.
Right this way.
That's the funky gold machina.
-[all laughing]
-From Canada.
[narrator] Jamey and Christine
have invested $30,000
in a water running trommel.
Adding their own bush fixes
to try
and increase efficiency.
[Christine]
So the mining standard
out in this area
is typically dry washing.
Uh, because of the lack
of water,
um, and having to have it
trucked in.
But we have found that
with the type
of pay dirt that we have,
it really is more beneficial
to use water
as opposed to dry washing.
That's a good thing
if you know
what your ground is.
That determines
what you need
for wash plant, right?
-Right.
-So you guys made
a good decision there.
[Christine] Okay, good.
Thank you for that.
Well, are you ready to do
a test run, ladies?
[both] Let's do it.
-[Freddy] Fire it up.
-[machine whirring]
Here we go.
First bucket going in.
-Four-hour run, right?
-Yeah.
Okay.
[narrator] Pay dirt
in Jamey and Christine's
wash plant
is fed through
a four-foot hopper
into a double trommel
called reverse helix.
Rocks are washed
in the inner drum
known as a scrubber
and discarded from the back
while finer pay dirt
drops into the outer drum.
Here, corkscrew ripples push
heavy gold-bearing material
back into the sluices.
To conserve water,
the entire system
is on a closed circuit
with waste water
returning to the pond
to be pumped back
to the plant.
[Juan] That helix trommels,
if you look at all that
materials bouncing right pass
the spray bar.
-[Freddy] Yeah.
-[Juan] Lot of material
that should've cleaned
and being sluiced
and it's coming
right at the end
of the trommel.
That's how
it marches out
of the spray bar.
[Juan] I just wanna look at it
and see how much
of the finds we're missing.
Uh-oh.
Juan's over there
checking our tailings.
I'm seein' him panning.
[Juan] So look at all those
finds right there?
Almost every bit
of that should
have been sluiced.
So I'm gonna pan that
real quick to see
if there's any color in it.
[narrator] If the plant isn't
washing this gold-rich dirt
off the rocks
and into the sluice box,
Christine and Jamey
are losing gold.
One sizeable piece.
So, you know,
that doesn't seem
like a whole lot,
but over a full day running,
and that could be
20, 30 pieces,
so it adds up quick.
Oh, I'm sure that they're
looking at the lack
of the water flow
to keep everything running.
[Freddy] The problem is,
they got a three-inch pump,
three-inch line,
and it's going
into a two-inch square tube
-to feed everything.
-[Juan] They're restricting it
right there
-at the beginning.
-[Freddy] Yeah.
[narrator] Jamey and Christine
have fitted a narrow pipe
to their trommel
as a bush fix.
So it uses less water.
[Freddy] Jamey's up there
having with the hoe
all the time.
And then we've got
the material coming down here.
Manual labor to get it down.
[narrator] But by using
less water,
they need to rely
on friend Greg
to help keep
the plant running.
It's a lot
of hard work. [laughs]
But, um, yeah,
these girls, I love 'em.
When we have a plant
like this,
you should be able to run it
with this one person.
So it's a very
labor-intensive plant.
-There it is.
-[Freddy] Last bucket.
-Hey, Christine, last bucket.
-Okay.
[Christine] Well,
it is what it is. We'll see.
[Jamey] I'm gonna shred
the trommel.
You go ahead
and shred the water.
Ladies, if you wanna
get it cleaned up.
-Okay. Sounds good. Thank you.
-Sounds good. All right.
[Jamey] I saw a lot
[laughing]of head nodding
that, you know, like,
-mmm, I don't know about this.
-[Christine] I'm not sure
about this. That's right.
[Jamey] A lot of eye contact
between the two of them.
So it's a little unsettling
because it's not
an eye contact,
like, way to go.
-Hey, yeah,
you're doing great.
-You're killin' it.
[Christine] We're just not
the give up kind of people.
You know, we wanna
push forward.
And make people see
that this industry can be
handled by anybody.
[Freddy] Well, here's to see
how much gold is in it, Juan.
[Juan] Yeah.
-[narrator]
In northern Arizona
-Hi, ladies.
-Hello.
-Hi.
[narrator] female miners
Jamey and Christine
have the gold ready to weigh
from their first test run.
[Freddy] Weight it up, Juan.
[Juan] Quick question.
What's that scale about?
My dad
he gave this to us.
He said, "I want you to use
this scale to weigh
your first 100 ounces."
-[Juan] That's cool.
-Yeah.
[narrator] Christine's
dad, Bill,
began hobby dry washing
on the claim in the '90s.
[Christine] When
we told my dad
that we're interested
in being out here,
as soon as he saw
the operation,
it warmed my heart
that he could believe in us
that we would be able
to do this.
My dad passed away
about five months ago.
We just wanna continue
this legacy
to be in the family
for years to come.
It's near and dear to me.
-It really is.
-Yeah,
-that's a little balance.
-[Christine] Yes.
[Freddy] Well,
moment of truth, guys.
-[Christine] All right,
there we go.
-[Jamey] Moment of truth.
[narrator] To hit
their season goal
of 50 ounces
and cover mining
and medical expenses,
this weigh needs to deliver
half an ounce of gold
from the four-hour test.
Well, we're little over
tenth of an ounce.
0.29, 0.30.
-[Juan] 0.31.
-So, 0.31.
Yup.
Almost a third of an ounce.
[Christine] Yeah.
Getting a third of an ounce
in four hours,
it's decent, but it's not
where you need to be.
[Freddy] For you guys
to hit your goal,
you're gonna have
to just about double
what you got there.
-Yes.
-Yes.
Juan and myself, we'll put
our heads together
and try to figure out
some ways to make your plant
more efficient.
We would really
appreciate that.
Here's your gold.
-Okay. Thank you.
-Thank you so much.
-We appreciate it.
-[Freddy] See you guys soon.
-[Christine] Thank you, guys.
-[Jamey] Thank you.
All right.
You could only go for so long
investing more money,
more time, more labor,
you know,
not paying the bills.
[Jamey] We really, really need
to turn this thing around.
[Freddy] They are a pleasure
to work with.
They both work really hard.
They're passionate
about what they're doing.
But, uh, that plant
is a bottleneck
attached to another bottleneck
attached
to another bottleneck.
The moment they fired it up,
I'm like, they're dead
in the water.
'Cause they don't have
enough water.
So that's one of main goals.
There's a laundry list
of things we can
do there, Freddy.
But I think we need
to focus on what's gonna
give 'em the--
-Biggest bang for the buck.
-Yeah.
Yep, no, I agree.
-So let's focus
on water system.
-Water system.
-Hopper.
-Hopper.
Sluice box.
[Freddy] Raise the hopper.
Fix the water.
Get 'em manifolds in there,
so they get the proper
water into the plant.
All right. Well, I like that.
Let's do it.
We got our work cut out
for us, that's for sure.
[narrator] To reduce
the pay dirt build up,
at the front end
of the trommel,
Freddy and Juan will modify
the four-foot long hopper
with adjustable legs
as well as adding
an additional spray bar
so the pay can self-feed
into the trommel.
Christine and Jamey
have inadvertently starved
the plant of water.
Freddy will increase
the supply
by building a distribution box
known as a manifold.
This will produce
pressurized water
for the new spray bar
and the hopper
and feed a spraying crosspiece
in the inner drum
of the trommel.
Finally, Juan will replace
Jamey and Christine's
makeshift sluice,
upgrading
to a custom-built one
with carpet and riffles
to improve gold recovery.
I'm really hoping that
that 50 ounces
is not a pipe dream.
That's a huge hill to climb.
Yeah, I would agree
with you, Juan.
-Hey, ladies. How we doin'?
-[both] Hi.
Good.
[Juan] So, we, uh,
we kinda sat down,
and figured out
-a gameplan for you.
-[Christine] Okay.
What we're looking at is that
you don't have enough water
-to run the sluices
that you have.
-[Jamey] Okay.
And without that,
your riffles are packing up
which doesn't allow
the gold to find a home
for itself, right?
-[Christine] Absolutely.
-So we're gonna work
on the water system.
[Juan] We can see it's been
messed with.
It goes
from a three-inch lay flat
to a two-inch square.
-So you're restricting it
right there.
-[laughing]
[Juan] Right off the get go.
So what Freddy wants to do,
he wants to go in there
and actually build you
a manifold
where you have valves
to be able
to turn on and off
-and adjust to pour water.
-[Freddy] Get you
some more water.
Oh, wow, okay.
[Juan] And we're gonna
build you a new spray bar
for the top of your hopper
to eliminate, you know,
you from being up there,
raking all day long.
On top of that,
we wanna focus
on your recovery as well.
You know, the sluice box,
it's basically
a highbanker box.
[Freddy] It is what it is,
a hobby box.
So we can build you
a new sluice.
So we can actually
get you closer to that
50-ounce gold that you need.
Okay, that sounds amazing.
But one of our big goals here,
is we need to find a new role
for you, Christine,
on this mine,
-that does not involve
a ton of manual labor.
-[Christine] Okay.
[Freddy] Which is why
I'm gonna take you prospecting
and see, uh
what we can find
for better ground.
-[Christine] Wow. Okay.
-[Jamey] That's great.
[Juan] So between all of that,
we kinda sat down
and figured about
$2,000 material
that we're gonna have to get.
Right.
If we get you your double,
then you pay just material.
We're not charging you
any labor.
Just strictly material.
Uh, if we don't
get you double,
no charge.
-Even for the material.
-Yeah.
That's generous
That's fantastic.
[Freddy] We know you guys
are in a tough spot here.
With the medication
that you need,
it's a big financial strain
on you guys.
So we're happy to do it.
-That's great. Wow.
-Okay, yeah.
-That sounds wonderful.
-[Christine] Yes.
I could throw in a haircut.
[laughs] I don't really
need one.
-I could definitely throw in
a haircut.
-I have little left.
[all laughing]
[Juan] Well, the ladies
are good with it.
We're good with it.
We'll get to work.
-All right.
-[Juan] All right, ladies.
Let's start.
[Christine] Thank you.
Thank you.
[Jamey] I had myself
emotionally prepared
for them to say
go back
to cutting hair, just
make your life easy,
and, you know.
And so for it to be
quite the opposite,
it is, yeah, a gamechanger.
[narrator] While Juan
preps the steel
for the new sluice box
[Juan] Perfect.
[narrator] Freddy's first job
is to get more water
into the plant.
[Freddy]
One of the biggest issues
Juan and myself have seen
when they were running
is water issues.
They don't have enough water.
The problem is, we've got
a bottleneck right here.
We've got a three-inch hose
going into a piece
of two-inch square tube.
So it's just choking it.
We're gonna try
to straighten that out.
This square tube here
is gonna be
our new manifold.
We'll have this welded
on the end
of the square tube.
For it to come in
with water here,
I'm gonna cut and weld
fittings on top of it here.
[narrator] Freddy's manifold
has a large three-inch inlet
to increase water pressure.
A number of outlets
then wrench
from the central tube
to evenly distribute water
around the plant.
It's a system
that should increase
water volume
by over 30 percent
and get more yards
of pay dirt
through the plant.
-[Freddy] So, just give me
a hand to mount it here.
-Okay. Absolutely.
[Freddy] Getting it
tracked on.
Hopefully, these fixes Juan
and myself are doing are going
to eliminate a bunch
of your labor.
-[Jamey] Especially
for Christine
-[Freddy] Yeah.
[Jamey]it's
greatly appreciated
and greatly needed.
Thank you, lady.
These ladies need to be
able to run this plant
without as much physical labor
as they're doing,
especially Christine.
So a big part
of this fix is gonna be
finding her a role
where she's not
hurting herself
on a daily basis,
and they don't have
to bring extra help in.
So that's gonna be
a tough one,
but I think it can be done.
[western
instrumental music playing]
[narrator] Morning
on the Chicks with Picks mine.
And with just 72 hours left
on the build,
Christine struggles
with her condition.
[Jamey] I think
we're just to a point
of where you know
you just can't
-Right.
-push your body like that.
I think
it's a great opportunity
with Freddy
and Juan being here
to dive into more of the
-Prospecting aspect.
-the prospecting.
Right. And I can spearhead
the more intense
physical side of it.
I can be the Watson
to Detective Dodge.
Well, cheers to that.
I don't know
if he's going to buy it,
but I say go for it.
Time to get to work.
-[Jamey] Okay, well,
let's go get it.
-[Christine] See you in a bit.
All right.
I feel sad that I cannot do
what I used to be able to do.
But I really don't like
to dwell on it.
I'm about getting up,
being as positive as I can.
So with prospecting
and research,
there are so many things
that I can do
in the operation for our team.
[instrumental music playing]
So what I'm doing here is
I'm getting the sides
of the new sluice box
tacked in place.
[narrator] Juan's
new sluice box will replace
the old clogging sluice
with an expanded
steel riffle system
to suck down heavy gold
into the mats.
Hey, Jamey, you want
to give me a hand?
[Jamey] Yeah, absolutely!
I'd love to.
[Juan] Put this on first,
-and then you can
put the gloves on.
-[Jamey] Okay.
[chuckling] Wow, look at that.
[Juan] Haha. [chuckles]
You know,
just by wearing that shirt
makes you 20% a better welder.
-I'm in.
-[both laugh]
[Juan] With Christine
in her situation, you know,
you're doing a lot more
of it yourself.
-Yes.
-You know, one thing
Freddy and I always say,
if you don't have a welder,
fabricator and a mechanic
on site,
you don't have a mine site.
I would agree.
[Juan] You're going
to strike it
-like it's a match,
right? Real slow.
-Okay.
[Juan] I'll pull back,
get a little puddle,
then I'll push
back into the puddle,
-come back,
get a little puddle going.
-Okay.
[Juan] So you're
just stacking.
-What you're doing is
what you're stacking.
-Okay. Okay.
-[Jamey] Like that?
-Yeah.
[Juan] Get a little closer.
Get a little closer.
Get closer.
There you go. Okay. Pull back.
Pull back. Pull back. Stop.
So look at it right now,
-you see how hot
that metal is?
-Oh, yeah, yeah, okay.
-[Juan] So you're
long arcing it.
-Okay.
The further you get away,
the further
that arc has to jump
and it'll actually start
dissipating that heat
-amongst, you know,
both pieces of steel
-Okay.
and actually gets hotter.
-Okay, I see
what you're saying.
-So-- So--
So you need to constantly keep
your rod about that distance
right there.
Right, okay, I gotcha.
[tense music playing]
[Juan] Don't worry.
After we're done with this,
you can teach me
how to give a haircut.
[Jamey chuckles]
All right. I'm in.
[Juan] A little slower.
Perfect.
That was good.
That was all you.
That looks good.
[Jamey] You're a great coach.
Thank you so much.
With everything that has
happened with Christine,
I am willing to step up
and give 1,000%
and make this
a successful operation.
[Freddy] Let's walk down here.
[narrator] On the other side
of the claim
This is actually
the most important thing.
You can have
the best wash plant
in the world,
but if you don't have
the gold in the ground
or if you're digging
in the wrong spot,
you know, you ain't
going to make it.
[Christine] Right.
[narrator] Freddy
teaches Christine
her new prospecting role
on the mine.
[Christine]
It's just really valuable
for me to go out with Freddy
and have him teach me
these things directly
so I can, you know,
be a bigger part
of that part of our operation.
So that building up there is
the old part of King Tut.
[Freddy] Okay.
[narrator] The King Tut mine
sits alongside
a string of hard rock claims
and was discovered
in the 1930s
by female ranch owner
Ollie Duncan.
The mine was soon bringing in
hundreds of ounces
of gold a week.
[Freddy] You're right kind of
in the outwash of these mines.
Gravity works.
So when mountains erode,
gold and gravel and rocks,
-they all go downhill.
-Okay.
So that's the source
for all the gold
-in these gullies.
-Oh, yeah, I see.
[Freddy] Let's put
our detective hats on here.
[narrator] If Christine
and Freddy can find
the stream beds or washes
that run
from the hard rock mines,
they should find the gold.
[Freddy] This drainage here,
this drainage here,
about one, two,
three total drainages.
We got these,
you know, these streams
coming together up top.
We've got a stream going
into that side.
-[Christine] Right.
-Right? Another one.
[Christine] These two washes--
[Freddy] And then these two
come together right here.
[Christine] Right.
So, we got double the amount
of reworked material here.
-Okay.
-We're talking
nature's sluice box.
So, in theory, this should be
the best gold right here
under my feet.
[Christine] That's
pretty amazing.
[narrator] But to get
a true test on the ground,
they call in the cavalry.
[Freddy] That'll work.
Get over a little bit.
It'll give us an overall look
of the material
from the top
down to the bottom.
[Jamey] Sorry, you guys,
you getting dusted out.
[Freddy] So if you dig
into tailings, what is it?
-It's soft, right?
-[Christine] Right.
[Freddy] Everything's
haphazard in the tailings.
You can see that bottom layer?
[Jamey] Yes, I can.
[Freddy] See
the coarser rocks in it
-down there?
-[Jamey] Yes.
-[Freddy] You see
how hard that is?
-[Jamey] Uh-huh.
[Freddy] Right?
-That means it's virgin.
-[Jamey] Right.
[Freddy] That should be
your best gold.
[narrator] Virgin means
never before mined ground,
a miner's holy grail.
Well, let's see
what kind of gold, if any,
lives in this, huh?
[Christine] It's going to be
a deciding factor
for our future.
Come on, lady, show up.
-[Freddy] Moment
of truth, huh?
-Right?
[Freddy] Look at that, guys.
Holy cow.
[dramatic music playing]
[Freddy] So we've got
now, one, two, three
[narrator] In Arizona
[Freddy]seven, eight,
nine, ten, eleven
[narrator]
the verdict is delivered
on Freddy's
newly-prospected ground.
Just 200 yards from Christine
and Jamey's current cut.
There's 21 colors in the pan.
-[Christine clapping]
Yeah! Look at that.
-[Freddy chuckles]
[Freddy] We know
there's good color here.
There's gold here for sure.
[choked up]
Finally, somebody has,
I guess, verified that we are
seeing what we're seeing.
We're not making this up.
I'm not out of my mind.
It wasn't too many years
in the salon sniffing fumes.
[Christine laughs]
You're not crazy,
that's for sure.
[Jamey] Thank you.
I appreciate that.
[Freddy] Well,
let me rephrase.
You're not bat[bleep] crazy.
-Just a little crazy.
-Just crazy enough
to still be fun.
Well, it's pretty exciting
finding some good color
fairly close to their plant.
It's farther
than they're digging now,
but it's manageable, right?
Let's dig some of this up
and run it through the plant
for the second test.
-[Christine] All right.
-[Jamey] Sounds good.
[Christine]
For him to teach us
how to identify
the virgin ground,
that was
all so valuable, really.
-Yes.
-I mean,
we're going to look
at prospecting way differently
-into the future.
-Yes.
[instrumental music playing]
Hola.
[Juan] Looking good,
my friend.
[Freddy] That's
a nice-looking
sluice box, Juan.
[Juan] Thanks, Freddy.
[narrator] With
just 48 hours left
on the build
Fingers and toes.
[narrator]
Juan's new sluice box is
ready to be fixed
to the plant.
[Freddy] Right now, we've got
a lot of stuff to get done
and not a lot
of time left to do it in.
All we do now is
just keep plugging away.
Huh? You got it, Jamey?
[Freddy] How we looking there?
[Jamey] Perfect.
[narrator] And with it,
another master class
from Professor Dodge.
We're going to have just
this indoor-outdoor carpet
under these light riffles.
[Jamey] Okay.
[Freddy] It works better
than the miner's moss.
[narrator] Artificial turf is
followed by expanded metal,
which creates
a vortex in water
that pulls down
the heavy gold.
So we'll put
our middle wedges in first.
[Jamey] Okay.
[Freddy] We want those riffles
tight into that carpet.
If not, that water will get
under those riffles,
and it can help carry gold
right out of the box.
[Jamey] Okay.
[Freddy] Another good thing
about wood,
-when the wood gets wet,
it even makes it tighter.
-Okay.
It's like hydraulics
in the wood.
Natural hydraulics, right?
This sluice box is
ready to roll.
[Jamey] This really is a
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
to work with Freddy and Juan,
building the sluices.
It's something that, you know,
you just can't put
a price tag on it.
-[Freddy] We're
running out of time
-Yeah.
so we've got to just
do whatever is right,
-but do it quick. Yeah.
-As quick as we can now.
Playtime is over, Fred.
[bleep] gotten real.
[Freddy] We're going
to bolt the spray bar down
on top of this,
hook a new water system up
to it,
and get a heck
of a lot more water
on those rocks.
Get the gold
in the sluice box,
not in the tailings pile.
Eyeballs!
[narrator] As Freddy starts
on the spray bars
[Freddy] It's all hands
on deck now.
[narrator]
Juan gets to work
on making the 400-pound
hopper adjustable
[Juan] We put this pin in.
and installs it
with mine helper, Greg.
[Juan] We made a bunch
of holes in the legs,
so that way when we get it
adjusted to where we want it,
we can pin it,
and then we're ready to go.
[narrator] To prevent
pay dirt clogging at the top
and speed up the plant,
Juan raises
the angle of the hopper
by modifying a set
of adjustable trailer jacks.
[Juan] We got
this trailer jack,
you're able to crank it here,
get the pressure
off these pins
you can see right there.
Then what I can do is
pull the pins out,
crank it to where I want it,
get the pitch
that I need on the hopper,
re-pin it,
you got
an adjustable hopper there.
[Greg] Trailer jacks,
how simple.
Working his magic
one more time.
[Freddy] Let's hook
this hose up.
[Jamey] There we go.
-[Freddy] Oh! Perfect.
-Too much?
-[Freddy] I like it.
-All right.
-You like it?
-I do.
Oh, their ideas are
coming to shape,
and things are
coming together.
Wow, it's just so amazing
to see the differences so far.
Well, ladies,
water's hooked up,
piping going to everything.
So I guess,
tomorrow morning
-Yeah.
-we do
a four-hour test run, huh?
-[Christine] Yeah.
-[Jamey] Sounds good. Yeah.
-[Freddy] See you
in the morning.
-[Jamey] All right.
[Juan] Well, the proof's going
to be in the pudding, Freddy.
You know, for this test run,
we're going to have to be
at least half an ounce
or better.
For them to meet their goal
-of an ounce a day.
-Yeah.
I guess time will tell.
Let's run the plant.
Let's do 'er.
[motor starts]
Mount up!
-[Freddy] Are we ready?
-[Jamey] Yeah, we're ready.
Let's do this, guys.
-[Juan] Perfect.
-[Freddy] Let's
make it happen.
[tense music playing]
Let 'er rip!
[Christine]
It's all come to a head,
and this is
the moment of truth.
I'm nervous.
I'm legitimately nervous.
-[Freddy] First bucket!
-First bucket, Fred.
[Christine] Let's see
if this machine is
going to pump out some gold.
This is the first female duo
we've ever had,
so we want to cut them out
a little sign for their plant.
The name of the mine is
Chicks with Picks,
so I'm doing two picks
representing the two chicks.
I got all the letters cut out,
and I got the picks cut out.
So now we're just going
to cut the frame out.
-Hello, ladies.
-[Jamey] Hi, guys.
-Freddy and I kind
of had an idea.
-[Jamey] Oh, wow!
[Christine] Wow! [chuckles]
[Jamey] That is fantastic.
[Christine] Oh, my gosh.
That is so cool.
There you go.
[Jamey] Now it's official.
[Christine] Yeah! It is!
[tense music playing]
[Jamey] Perfect.
All right!
[narrator] From the edge
of the Grand Canyon,
it's do or die
for female miners,
Christine and Jamey.
[Juan] The hopper's
doing great, Fred.
That spray bar's doing
really good.
And the pitch now, you know,
it's pretty much able
to feed on its own.
Yeah, the spray bar system's
working great.
[narrator] Instead of needing
to manually rake down
the pay dirt,
Juan's ingenious
adjustable hopper
and Freddy's spray bar
self-feed dirt
into the trommel.
Usually I'm up there raking
all the material down,
so I'm almost out of a job.
[narrator] Freddy's manifold
pushes more water volume
into the trommel
to spray fine pay dirt
into the brand new sluice.
The material's coming out
way cleaner.
So this used to be
just caked with mud.
So that's awesome.
That sluice box,
I felt it. It's good.
-I'm happy with it, Freddy.
-I am, too.
[Juan] We got a Ford Pinto,
and we put
Ferrari parts on it.
-That's what
we did. [chuckles]
-[Freddy chuckles]
-[Juan] Right?
-You're right.
So who says women can't
be gold miners?
Last bucket!
[Christine] Last bucket!
[Christine] Shut it off!
Shut it off!
[Freddy] Thank you!
[Juan] How's it look
up there, Fred?
There's so much sand in it
that it's hard to see.
See anything in there, Juan?
[Juan] Uh-uh, nothing yet.
I'm not saying
that there's nothing
there, but
-What do you think, ladies?
-[Juan] Hello, ladies.
-Uh
-Oh. [chuckles nervously]
-That knot is
in the middle of my stomach.
-Right.
We got a third
of an ounce before,
-we need at least a half now.
-[Juan] Yeah.
Let's see what it is.
-[Jamey] Oh.
-[Christine] Oh, my goodness.
[narrator] Half an ounce
in four hours would mean
Jamey and Christine could hit
their 50-ounce season goal
and secure their future
as full-time miners.
There's a tenth of an ounce.
There's a tenth.
-There's a third
of an ounce right there
-[Juan] Right there.
-so that's how much we did
the first cleanup, right?
-[Christine] That's good.
-Our goal is a half,
right, before?
-[Jamey] Yeah.
[Christine] Yes.
Well, there's
a half an ounce right there,
-exactly a half an ounce.
-[Juan] There's your goal.
-Okay.
-[Freddy] There's your goal.
There's still more in there.
[Christine] Keep going,
Freddy, keep going.
-[Freddy] Well,
there just happens to be
-[Jamey] Wow.
three quarters
of an ounce there.
-Wow.
-[all laughing]
Go, Freddy, go!
-[Freddy] Okay.
-Oh, my goodness. Wow.
Well, let's keep going here.
There. We're at nine-tenths
of an ounce.
-[Jamey] Wow.
-[Freddy] Oh,
there's 1.17 ounces.
-What?
-What?
-[Freddy] In four hours.
-Oh, my God, you guys!
What?
1.25.
-It's actually an ounce
and a quarter.
-[Juan] Ounce and a quarter.
[Christine] Oh,
my gosh, you guys.
-And that's no BS.
-That's straight up.
-Wow. That's gonna
change our lives.
-Oh, my gosh, guys.
That's how bad
your plant was running.
-[Juan laughing]
-[Christine] Right.
Can we stick
with the positives?
[all laughing]
[narrator] Over 50 days, Jamey
and Christine could make
125 ounces
worth $285,000,
150% more than their goal.
Do you think you guys can
make it on that?
-[Christine] I think
that would be amazing.
-I think we can.
That's a lot of haircuts.
[all laughing]
The fixes have just
changed everything.
It has completely opened up
a whole new avenue
of possibilities.
[Christine]
We're not quitting.
This is go.
We want to be an inspiration
for other females
and to show them
you can be a miner.
If you put your mind to it,
you can do anything.
-[Christine] Wow.
-And just think
about how many
of these gullies
you guys have, right?
And they're all going
to carry gold.
[Juan] But do us a favor.
Let us know how it does.
-Yes.
-Right.
Well, I guess you guys can
actually add that
to your scale there,
-your dad's scale.
-[Christine] Oh,
happy to do so.
-[Juan] Yeah?
-[Christine] Yeah.
Yes. Right?
[Christine] At this point,
I know my dad's proud of us.
I know he's proud of me.
I know
that he's down here watching
and looking in the sluice,
hoping there's
some big gold nuggets.
-[Freddy] You ladies
take care, okay?
-[ladies] Thank you.
-Thank you, ladies.
Appreciate it.
-[Jamey] Thank you so much.
[victorious music playing]
It's a win. Huge win.
[softly] What just happened?
-[chuckles]
-Um.
-[Freddy]
On to the next one, Juano.
-[Juan] Let's go.
[Freddy] These ladies are
on a track now
where they can come out here
and they can make
a darn good living.
[Jamey] Oh,
that's so beautiful.
[Freddy] I was confident
that we could double
the amount of gold,
but we way more
than doubled it.
We did 400%.
Yeah.
If they want to sell
this place, I'll buy it.
Freddy and Juan, we wanted
to give you an update.
We have been running
for another three weeks,
and we've been getting
around that same amount
when you guys were here,
and oh, my gosh, it's made
such a huge difference.
We wanted to share
this pan for you.
-Oh, yeah. Right?
-Oh, my gosh, we are
getting consistent running.
We've gotten in three weeks
almost 42 ounces,
-which is about $95,000.
-Yeah.
-Yep.
-Oh, my gosh, right?
This is so exciting.
More than double the goal.
[Jamey] The truth is
we're rocking it.
-[Christine]
We're so grateful.
-Yeah.
[Christine] It's just
changed our world.
Chicks with Picks,
signing out.
Until the next time.
-Bye.
-Bye.
You ready, Jamey?
Oh, we have a tremendous case
of gold fever.
It's bad.
[Christine] Gold
is at the highest price
it's ever been.
And so it's an absolute
real reason to be out here.
Gold fever is a real thing.
[Jamey] Hold on, Christine.
Something's going on
with the water.
Okay. Copy.
[Jamey] Freddy, Juan,
we really, really
could use your help.
With every fix
that we come up with,
it creates
three more problems.
We should have left
the plant the way it was.
Each season in passing,
it's getting worse.
If we can't increase
our gold recovery,
make this work this year,
then I think we're done.
-This will be it.
-This will be it.
[narrator] Freddy Dodge
I'd rather have gold
in the bank
than gold in the mountain.
[narrator]
and Juan Ibarra
Not bad for building a field.
[narrator] want
to make you rich.
It turns your dream out here
into reality.
[all laughing]
[narrator] In the past
five years,
the value of gold has doubled.
-[Freddy] There's
a $3,000 nugget right there.
-[Juan] Whoo!
-[narrator]
But rookie miners
-[man] Whoa, whoa, whoa.
[narrator] find it
more elusive than ever.
If we don't recover more gold,
than 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 is genius.
[narrator] to deliver
a golden payday.
They have a future
and they know
what they need to do.
-[Freddy] I'll take
a fudge nut parfait.
-[man] All right.
[Juan] Uh, let me
do a brownie delight.
Good call
on the ice-cream, Freddy.
[Freddy] It's melting
quick, Juan.
[Juan] Look
at that view, Freddy.
-[Freddy] That's pretty, huh?
-[Juan] Yeah.
We gotta be really close
to the Grand Canyon
from here, huh, Fred?
The old timers
set up
so there's definitely
gold here.
Do you know
when the first prospectors
got in here?
The old, old timers was 1880s.
-[Juan] That's cool. Well,
should we go see the girls?
-Let's do it.
[narrator] Freddy and Juan
are en route
to Chicks with Picks claim
owned by Jamey D'anna
and Christine Crnek,
who in the last two years
have spent
thousands of dollars
on their new wash plant,
to turn their hobby mine
into a professional operation.
The hostile desert conditions
and lack of water
slowed down the first wave
of stampeders in the 1880s.
But those who were
hardy enough
recovered over $13,000 ounces
of gold
worth nearly $30 million
in today's money.
Now, with gold at a staggering
$2,300 an ounce,
Freddy and Juan have one week
to decode this operation
and turn it around.
-[Juan] Hello.
-Hello.
-[Freddy] Hi, ladies.
How you doin'?
-Welcome, gentlemen.
-Hi there.
-Good.
-Juan.
-Christine.
[Freddy] Nice
to meet you, Jamey.
Well, let me ask you ladies
a question.
What got you into gold mining?
-Basically, since COVID.
-COVID started everything.
Yeah.
I am a hairdresser
for about 20 years.
When COVID hit,
with the, you know,
mandated shutdowns,
we were part of it.
[Christine] Jamey's
business shutdown.
Mine was doing nothing,
you know.
and we said
we need to get outside.
[Jamey] Christine's father,
he's had this property
for over 30 years.
He started talking about gold.
[Christine] He was considering
selling it.
And we said, "Wait a minute."
And when we really found out
how much gold is out here,
we decided that we wanted
to purchase it all.
The idea of a treasure hunt,
to me,
it was, like, "Oh, yes.
Let's do this."
[Christine] We knew
right there
we had gold fever.
This is the place we wanna be.
We wanna mine gold.
So we said,
we're gonna give it a go.
We both have enough experience
in business and production
and figuring things out.
We're girl MacGyvers.
[narrator] With gold fever
set in,
they invested
in a professional set up.
[narrator] But then,
life threw them
another challenge.
Two years ago,
I got diagnosed
with rheumatoid arthritis.
And sometimes,
it cripples me to the point
where I can't get out
of the bed in the morning.
[narrator]
Rheumatoid arthritis or RA
is a degenerative
autoimmune disease
that attacks the joints.
[Jamey] Christine tries
to muscle through
and lot of times
people don't even realize
she is as sick as she is.
You know
[Jamey] It's just really sad
to watch her suffer.
To see Freddy and Juan here,
it feels like the cavalry
is here.
There's hope
that we can turn this around
because I can't do it
on my own.
I just-- I can't.
Unfortunately, I ought to
take a medicine twice a month
that is thousands of dollars.
And we really need help
to find more gold
to get stuff taken care of.
Because, you know,
it's stressful.
-[Jamey] Absolutely.
-I can see that.
It makes it very hard
for her, physically,
so to help alleviate
some of that manual labor,
-that would be fantastic.
-[Juan] Understood.
Now, how long have you guys
been running this year so far?
Uh, we've been out here,
what, like, uh
-In the March.
-eight weeks.
-Yeah.
-Between eight to ten weeks.
So little two and half months.
So what kind of money
you have invested into this?
-It's about $150,000.
-Okay.
This is the type of gold
that we have here.
[Freddy] That's
some pretty gold.
They're mainly finds, huh?
Yes. Our first season
was pretty decent.
Especially, being
the first season.
-[Freddy] How many ounces
did you do?
-We did ten ounces.
[Juan] Okay, it's not bad.
[Jamey] The second season
wasn't as good.
Uh, we did about five ounces.
And this year,
we've barely done
over an ounce.
Really?
What's your goal
for this year?
[Christine] We'd love to be
at 50 ounces this year.
This is the goal
that we wanna be able
to run at.
[Freddy] And that's
before summer runs you out?
[Christine] That's what
we're shooting for.
So you've got
about 50 days left then.
-[Christine] Yep, absolutely.
-[Jamey] Yes.
[narrator] Arizona season runs
from October through to June
as monsoons and extreme heat
make summer mining impossible.
[Freddy] It takes a special
breed of person to be out here
in the desert.
Christine and Jamey,
they've worked their butts off
to do what they've done here
in the time they've done it.
But at the same time,
these ladies did ten ounces
the first year.
And now they've got
a target goal of 50 ounces.
So whether that can be done
or not, I don't know.
So, uh, tell us
about the plan.
[Christine] All right.
Right this way.
That's the funky gold machina.
-[all laughing]
-From Canada.
[narrator] Jamey and Christine
have invested $30,000
in a water running trommel.
Adding their own bush fixes
to try
and increase efficiency.
[Christine]
So the mining standard
out in this area
is typically dry washing.
Uh, because of the lack
of water,
um, and having to have it
trucked in.
But we have found that
with the type
of pay dirt that we have,
it really is more beneficial
to use water
as opposed to dry washing.
That's a good thing
if you know
what your ground is.
That determines
what you need
for wash plant, right?
-Right.
-So you guys made
a good decision there.
[Christine] Okay, good.
Thank you for that.
Well, are you ready to do
a test run, ladies?
[both] Let's do it.
-[Freddy] Fire it up.
-[machine whirring]
Here we go.
First bucket going in.
-Four-hour run, right?
-Yeah.
Okay.
[narrator] Pay dirt
in Jamey and Christine's
wash plant
is fed through
a four-foot hopper
into a double trommel
called reverse helix.
Rocks are washed
in the inner drum
known as a scrubber
and discarded from the back
while finer pay dirt
drops into the outer drum.
Here, corkscrew ripples push
heavy gold-bearing material
back into the sluices.
To conserve water,
the entire system
is on a closed circuit
with waste water
returning to the pond
to be pumped back
to the plant.
[Juan] That helix trommels,
if you look at all that
materials bouncing right pass
the spray bar.
-[Freddy] Yeah.
-[Juan] Lot of material
that should've cleaned
and being sluiced
and it's coming
right at the end
of the trommel.
That's how
it marches out
of the spray bar.
[Juan] I just wanna look at it
and see how much
of the finds we're missing.
Uh-oh.
Juan's over there
checking our tailings.
I'm seein' him panning.
[Juan] So look at all those
finds right there?
Almost every bit
of that should
have been sluiced.
So I'm gonna pan that
real quick to see
if there's any color in it.
[narrator] If the plant isn't
washing this gold-rich dirt
off the rocks
and into the sluice box,
Christine and Jamey
are losing gold.
One sizeable piece.
So, you know,
that doesn't seem
like a whole lot,
but over a full day running,
and that could be
20, 30 pieces,
so it adds up quick.
Oh, I'm sure that they're
looking at the lack
of the water flow
to keep everything running.
[Freddy] The problem is,
they got a three-inch pump,
three-inch line,
and it's going
into a two-inch square tube
-to feed everything.
-[Juan] They're restricting it
right there
-at the beginning.
-[Freddy] Yeah.
[narrator] Jamey and Christine
have fitted a narrow pipe
to their trommel
as a bush fix.
So it uses less water.
[Freddy] Jamey's up there
having with the hoe
all the time.
And then we've got
the material coming down here.
Manual labor to get it down.
[narrator] But by using
less water,
they need to rely
on friend Greg
to help keep
the plant running.
It's a lot
of hard work. [laughs]
But, um, yeah,
these girls, I love 'em.
When we have a plant
like this,
you should be able to run it
with this one person.
So it's a very
labor-intensive plant.
-There it is.
-[Freddy] Last bucket.
-Hey, Christine, last bucket.
-Okay.
[Christine] Well,
it is what it is. We'll see.
[Jamey] I'm gonna shred
the trommel.
You go ahead
and shred the water.
Ladies, if you wanna
get it cleaned up.
-Okay. Sounds good. Thank you.
-Sounds good. All right.
[Jamey] I saw a lot
[laughing]of head nodding
that, you know, like,
-mmm, I don't know about this.
-[Christine] I'm not sure
about this. That's right.
[Jamey] A lot of eye contact
between the two of them.
So it's a little unsettling
because it's not
an eye contact,
like, way to go.
-Hey, yeah,
you're doing great.
-You're killin' it.
[Christine] We're just not
the give up kind of people.
You know, we wanna
push forward.
And make people see
that this industry can be
handled by anybody.
[Freddy] Well, here's to see
how much gold is in it, Juan.
[Juan] Yeah.
-[narrator]
In northern Arizona
-Hi, ladies.
-Hello.
-Hi.
[narrator] female miners
Jamey and Christine
have the gold ready to weigh
from their first test run.
[Freddy] Weight it up, Juan.
[Juan] Quick question.
What's that scale about?
My dad
he gave this to us.
He said, "I want you to use
this scale to weigh
your first 100 ounces."
-[Juan] That's cool.
-Yeah.
[narrator] Christine's
dad, Bill,
began hobby dry washing
on the claim in the '90s.
[Christine] When
we told my dad
that we're interested
in being out here,
as soon as he saw
the operation,
it warmed my heart
that he could believe in us
that we would be able
to do this.
My dad passed away
about five months ago.
We just wanna continue
this legacy
to be in the family
for years to come.
It's near and dear to me.
-It really is.
-Yeah,
-that's a little balance.
-[Christine] Yes.
[Freddy] Well,
moment of truth, guys.
-[Christine] All right,
there we go.
-[Jamey] Moment of truth.
[narrator] To hit
their season goal
of 50 ounces
and cover mining
and medical expenses,
this weigh needs to deliver
half an ounce of gold
from the four-hour test.
Well, we're little over
tenth of an ounce.
0.29, 0.30.
-[Juan] 0.31.
-So, 0.31.
Yup.
Almost a third of an ounce.
[Christine] Yeah.
Getting a third of an ounce
in four hours,
it's decent, but it's not
where you need to be.
[Freddy] For you guys
to hit your goal,
you're gonna have
to just about double
what you got there.
-Yes.
-Yes.
Juan and myself, we'll put
our heads together
and try to figure out
some ways to make your plant
more efficient.
We would really
appreciate that.
Here's your gold.
-Okay. Thank you.
-Thank you so much.
-We appreciate it.
-[Freddy] See you guys soon.
-[Christine] Thank you, guys.
-[Jamey] Thank you.
All right.
You could only go for so long
investing more money,
more time, more labor,
you know,
not paying the bills.
[Jamey] We really, really need
to turn this thing around.
[Freddy] They are a pleasure
to work with.
They both work really hard.
They're passionate
about what they're doing.
But, uh, that plant
is a bottleneck
attached to another bottleneck
attached
to another bottleneck.
The moment they fired it up,
I'm like, they're dead
in the water.
'Cause they don't have
enough water.
So that's one of main goals.
There's a laundry list
of things we can
do there, Freddy.
But I think we need
to focus on what's gonna
give 'em the--
-Biggest bang for the buck.
-Yeah.
Yep, no, I agree.
-So let's focus
on water system.
-Water system.
-Hopper.
-Hopper.
Sluice box.
[Freddy] Raise the hopper.
Fix the water.
Get 'em manifolds in there,
so they get the proper
water into the plant.
All right. Well, I like that.
Let's do it.
We got our work cut out
for us, that's for sure.
[narrator] To reduce
the pay dirt build up,
at the front end
of the trommel,
Freddy and Juan will modify
the four-foot long hopper
with adjustable legs
as well as adding
an additional spray bar
so the pay can self-feed
into the trommel.
Christine and Jamey
have inadvertently starved
the plant of water.
Freddy will increase
the supply
by building a distribution box
known as a manifold.
This will produce
pressurized water
for the new spray bar
and the hopper
and feed a spraying crosspiece
in the inner drum
of the trommel.
Finally, Juan will replace
Jamey and Christine's
makeshift sluice,
upgrading
to a custom-built one
with carpet and riffles
to improve gold recovery.
I'm really hoping that
that 50 ounces
is not a pipe dream.
That's a huge hill to climb.
Yeah, I would agree
with you, Juan.
-Hey, ladies. How we doin'?
-[both] Hi.
Good.
[Juan] So, we, uh,
we kinda sat down,
and figured out
-a gameplan for you.
-[Christine] Okay.
What we're looking at is that
you don't have enough water
-to run the sluices
that you have.
-[Jamey] Okay.
And without that,
your riffles are packing up
which doesn't allow
the gold to find a home
for itself, right?
-[Christine] Absolutely.
-So we're gonna work
on the water system.
[Juan] We can see it's been
messed with.
It goes
from a three-inch lay flat
to a two-inch square.
-So you're restricting it
right there.
-[laughing]
[Juan] Right off the get go.
So what Freddy wants to do,
he wants to go in there
and actually build you
a manifold
where you have valves
to be able
to turn on and off
-and adjust to pour water.
-[Freddy] Get you
some more water.
Oh, wow, okay.
[Juan] And we're gonna
build you a new spray bar
for the top of your hopper
to eliminate, you know,
you from being up there,
raking all day long.
On top of that,
we wanna focus
on your recovery as well.
You know, the sluice box,
it's basically
a highbanker box.
[Freddy] It is what it is,
a hobby box.
So we can build you
a new sluice.
So we can actually
get you closer to that
50-ounce gold that you need.
Okay, that sounds amazing.
But one of our big goals here,
is we need to find a new role
for you, Christine,
on this mine,
-that does not involve
a ton of manual labor.
-[Christine] Okay.
[Freddy] Which is why
I'm gonna take you prospecting
and see, uh
what we can find
for better ground.
-[Christine] Wow. Okay.
-[Jamey] That's great.
[Juan] So between all of that,
we kinda sat down
and figured about
$2,000 material
that we're gonna have to get.
Right.
If we get you your double,
then you pay just material.
We're not charging you
any labor.
Just strictly material.
Uh, if we don't
get you double,
no charge.
-Even for the material.
-Yeah.
That's generous
That's fantastic.
[Freddy] We know you guys
are in a tough spot here.
With the medication
that you need,
it's a big financial strain
on you guys.
So we're happy to do it.
-That's great. Wow.
-Okay, yeah.
-That sounds wonderful.
-[Christine] Yes.
I could throw in a haircut.
[laughs] I don't really
need one.
-I could definitely throw in
a haircut.
-I have little left.
[all laughing]
[Juan] Well, the ladies
are good with it.
We're good with it.
We'll get to work.
-All right.
-[Juan] All right, ladies.
Let's start.
[Christine] Thank you.
Thank you.
[Jamey] I had myself
emotionally prepared
for them to say
go back
to cutting hair, just
make your life easy,
and, you know.
And so for it to be
quite the opposite,
it is, yeah, a gamechanger.
[narrator] While Juan
preps the steel
for the new sluice box
[Juan] Perfect.
[narrator] Freddy's first job
is to get more water
into the plant.
[Freddy]
One of the biggest issues
Juan and myself have seen
when they were running
is water issues.
They don't have enough water.
The problem is, we've got
a bottleneck right here.
We've got a three-inch hose
going into a piece
of two-inch square tube.
So it's just choking it.
We're gonna try
to straighten that out.
This square tube here
is gonna be
our new manifold.
We'll have this welded
on the end
of the square tube.
For it to come in
with water here,
I'm gonna cut and weld
fittings on top of it here.
[narrator] Freddy's manifold
has a large three-inch inlet
to increase water pressure.
A number of outlets
then wrench
from the central tube
to evenly distribute water
around the plant.
It's a system
that should increase
water volume
by over 30 percent
and get more yards
of pay dirt
through the plant.
-[Freddy] So, just give me
a hand to mount it here.
-Okay. Absolutely.
[Freddy] Getting it
tracked on.
Hopefully, these fixes Juan
and myself are doing are going
to eliminate a bunch
of your labor.
-[Jamey] Especially
for Christine
-[Freddy] Yeah.
[Jamey]it's
greatly appreciated
and greatly needed.
Thank you, lady.
These ladies need to be
able to run this plant
without as much physical labor
as they're doing,
especially Christine.
So a big part
of this fix is gonna be
finding her a role
where she's not
hurting herself
on a daily basis,
and they don't have
to bring extra help in.
So that's gonna be
a tough one,
but I think it can be done.
[western
instrumental music playing]
[narrator] Morning
on the Chicks with Picks mine.
And with just 72 hours left
on the build,
Christine struggles
with her condition.
[Jamey] I think
we're just to a point
of where you know
you just can't
-Right.
-push your body like that.
I think
it's a great opportunity
with Freddy
and Juan being here
to dive into more of the
-Prospecting aspect.
-the prospecting.
Right. And I can spearhead
the more intense
physical side of it.
I can be the Watson
to Detective Dodge.
Well, cheers to that.
I don't know
if he's going to buy it,
but I say go for it.
Time to get to work.
-[Jamey] Okay, well,
let's go get it.
-[Christine] See you in a bit.
All right.
I feel sad that I cannot do
what I used to be able to do.
But I really don't like
to dwell on it.
I'm about getting up,
being as positive as I can.
So with prospecting
and research,
there are so many things
that I can do
in the operation for our team.
[instrumental music playing]
So what I'm doing here is
I'm getting the sides
of the new sluice box
tacked in place.
[narrator] Juan's
new sluice box will replace
the old clogging sluice
with an expanded
steel riffle system
to suck down heavy gold
into the mats.
Hey, Jamey, you want
to give me a hand?
[Jamey] Yeah, absolutely!
I'd love to.
[Juan] Put this on first,
-and then you can
put the gloves on.
-[Jamey] Okay.
[chuckling] Wow, look at that.
[Juan] Haha. [chuckles]
You know,
just by wearing that shirt
makes you 20% a better welder.
-I'm in.
-[both laugh]
[Juan] With Christine
in her situation, you know,
you're doing a lot more
of it yourself.
-Yes.
-You know, one thing
Freddy and I always say,
if you don't have a welder,
fabricator and a mechanic
on site,
you don't have a mine site.
I would agree.
[Juan] You're going
to strike it
-like it's a match,
right? Real slow.
-Okay.
[Juan] I'll pull back,
get a little puddle,
then I'll push
back into the puddle,
-come back,
get a little puddle going.
-Okay.
[Juan] So you're
just stacking.
-What you're doing is
what you're stacking.
-Okay. Okay.
-[Jamey] Like that?
-Yeah.
[Juan] Get a little closer.
Get a little closer.
Get closer.
There you go. Okay. Pull back.
Pull back. Pull back. Stop.
So look at it right now,
-you see how hot
that metal is?
-Oh, yeah, yeah, okay.
-[Juan] So you're
long arcing it.
-Okay.
The further you get away,
the further
that arc has to jump
and it'll actually start
dissipating that heat
-amongst, you know,
both pieces of steel
-Okay.
and actually gets hotter.
-Okay, I see
what you're saying.
-So-- So--
So you need to constantly keep
your rod about that distance
right there.
Right, okay, I gotcha.
[tense music playing]
[Juan] Don't worry.
After we're done with this,
you can teach me
how to give a haircut.
[Jamey chuckles]
All right. I'm in.
[Juan] A little slower.
Perfect.
That was good.
That was all you.
That looks good.
[Jamey] You're a great coach.
Thank you so much.
With everything that has
happened with Christine,
I am willing to step up
and give 1,000%
and make this
a successful operation.
[Freddy] Let's walk down here.
[narrator] On the other side
of the claim
This is actually
the most important thing.
You can have
the best wash plant
in the world,
but if you don't have
the gold in the ground
or if you're digging
in the wrong spot,
you know, you ain't
going to make it.
[Christine] Right.
[narrator] Freddy
teaches Christine
her new prospecting role
on the mine.
[Christine]
It's just really valuable
for me to go out with Freddy
and have him teach me
these things directly
so I can, you know,
be a bigger part
of that part of our operation.
So that building up there is
the old part of King Tut.
[Freddy] Okay.
[narrator] The King Tut mine
sits alongside
a string of hard rock claims
and was discovered
in the 1930s
by female ranch owner
Ollie Duncan.
The mine was soon bringing in
hundreds of ounces
of gold a week.
[Freddy] You're right kind of
in the outwash of these mines.
Gravity works.
So when mountains erode,
gold and gravel and rocks,
-they all go downhill.
-Okay.
So that's the source
for all the gold
-in these gullies.
-Oh, yeah, I see.
[Freddy] Let's put
our detective hats on here.
[narrator] If Christine
and Freddy can find
the stream beds or washes
that run
from the hard rock mines,
they should find the gold.
[Freddy] This drainage here,
this drainage here,
about one, two,
three total drainages.
We got these,
you know, these streams
coming together up top.
We've got a stream going
into that side.
-[Christine] Right.
-Right? Another one.
[Christine] These two washes--
[Freddy] And then these two
come together right here.
[Christine] Right.
So, we got double the amount
of reworked material here.
-Okay.
-We're talking
nature's sluice box.
So, in theory, this should be
the best gold right here
under my feet.
[Christine] That's
pretty amazing.
[narrator] But to get
a true test on the ground,
they call in the cavalry.
[Freddy] That'll work.
Get over a little bit.
It'll give us an overall look
of the material
from the top
down to the bottom.
[Jamey] Sorry, you guys,
you getting dusted out.
[Freddy] So if you dig
into tailings, what is it?
-It's soft, right?
-[Christine] Right.
[Freddy] Everything's
haphazard in the tailings.
You can see that bottom layer?
[Jamey] Yes, I can.
[Freddy] See
the coarser rocks in it
-down there?
-[Jamey] Yes.
-[Freddy] You see
how hard that is?
-[Jamey] Uh-huh.
[Freddy] Right?
-That means it's virgin.
-[Jamey] Right.
[Freddy] That should be
your best gold.
[narrator] Virgin means
never before mined ground,
a miner's holy grail.
Well, let's see
what kind of gold, if any,
lives in this, huh?
[Christine] It's going to be
a deciding factor
for our future.
Come on, lady, show up.
-[Freddy] Moment
of truth, huh?
-Right?
[Freddy] Look at that, guys.
Holy cow.
[dramatic music playing]
[Freddy] So we've got
now, one, two, three
[narrator] In Arizona
[Freddy]seven, eight,
nine, ten, eleven
[narrator]
the verdict is delivered
on Freddy's
newly-prospected ground.
Just 200 yards from Christine
and Jamey's current cut.
There's 21 colors in the pan.
-[Christine clapping]
Yeah! Look at that.
-[Freddy chuckles]
[Freddy] We know
there's good color here.
There's gold here for sure.
[choked up]
Finally, somebody has,
I guess, verified that we are
seeing what we're seeing.
We're not making this up.
I'm not out of my mind.
It wasn't too many years
in the salon sniffing fumes.
[Christine laughs]
You're not crazy,
that's for sure.
[Jamey] Thank you.
I appreciate that.
[Freddy] Well,
let me rephrase.
You're not bat[bleep] crazy.
-Just a little crazy.
-Just crazy enough
to still be fun.
Well, it's pretty exciting
finding some good color
fairly close to their plant.
It's farther
than they're digging now,
but it's manageable, right?
Let's dig some of this up
and run it through the plant
for the second test.
-[Christine] All right.
-[Jamey] Sounds good.
[Christine]
For him to teach us
how to identify
the virgin ground,
that was
all so valuable, really.
-Yes.
-I mean,
we're going to look
at prospecting way differently
-into the future.
-Yes.
[instrumental music playing]
Hola.
[Juan] Looking good,
my friend.
[Freddy] That's
a nice-looking
sluice box, Juan.
[Juan] Thanks, Freddy.
[narrator] With
just 48 hours left
on the build
Fingers and toes.
[narrator]
Juan's new sluice box is
ready to be fixed
to the plant.
[Freddy] Right now, we've got
a lot of stuff to get done
and not a lot
of time left to do it in.
All we do now is
just keep plugging away.
Huh? You got it, Jamey?
[Freddy] How we looking there?
[Jamey] Perfect.
[narrator] And with it,
another master class
from Professor Dodge.
We're going to have just
this indoor-outdoor carpet
under these light riffles.
[Jamey] Okay.
[Freddy] It works better
than the miner's moss.
[narrator] Artificial turf is
followed by expanded metal,
which creates
a vortex in water
that pulls down
the heavy gold.
So we'll put
our middle wedges in first.
[Jamey] Okay.
[Freddy] We want those riffles
tight into that carpet.
If not, that water will get
under those riffles,
and it can help carry gold
right out of the box.
[Jamey] Okay.
[Freddy] Another good thing
about wood,
-when the wood gets wet,
it even makes it tighter.
-Okay.
It's like hydraulics
in the wood.
Natural hydraulics, right?
This sluice box is
ready to roll.
[Jamey] This really is a
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
to work with Freddy and Juan,
building the sluices.
It's something that, you know,
you just can't put
a price tag on it.
-[Freddy] We're
running out of time
-Yeah.
so we've got to just
do whatever is right,
-but do it quick. Yeah.
-As quick as we can now.
Playtime is over, Fred.
[bleep] gotten real.
[Freddy] We're going
to bolt the spray bar down
on top of this,
hook a new water system up
to it,
and get a heck
of a lot more water
on those rocks.
Get the gold
in the sluice box,
not in the tailings pile.
Eyeballs!
[narrator] As Freddy starts
on the spray bars
[Freddy] It's all hands
on deck now.
[narrator]
Juan gets to work
on making the 400-pound
hopper adjustable
[Juan] We put this pin in.
and installs it
with mine helper, Greg.
[Juan] We made a bunch
of holes in the legs,
so that way when we get it
adjusted to where we want it,
we can pin it,
and then we're ready to go.
[narrator] To prevent
pay dirt clogging at the top
and speed up the plant,
Juan raises
the angle of the hopper
by modifying a set
of adjustable trailer jacks.
[Juan] We got
this trailer jack,
you're able to crank it here,
get the pressure
off these pins
you can see right there.
Then what I can do is
pull the pins out,
crank it to where I want it,
get the pitch
that I need on the hopper,
re-pin it,
you got
an adjustable hopper there.
[Greg] Trailer jacks,
how simple.
Working his magic
one more time.
[Freddy] Let's hook
this hose up.
[Jamey] There we go.
-[Freddy] Oh! Perfect.
-Too much?
-[Freddy] I like it.
-All right.
-You like it?
-I do.
Oh, their ideas are
coming to shape,
and things are
coming together.
Wow, it's just so amazing
to see the differences so far.
Well, ladies,
water's hooked up,
piping going to everything.
So I guess,
tomorrow morning
-Yeah.
-we do
a four-hour test run, huh?
-[Christine] Yeah.
-[Jamey] Sounds good. Yeah.
-[Freddy] See you
in the morning.
-[Jamey] All right.
[Juan] Well, the proof's going
to be in the pudding, Freddy.
You know, for this test run,
we're going to have to be
at least half an ounce
or better.
For them to meet their goal
-of an ounce a day.
-Yeah.
I guess time will tell.
Let's run the plant.
Let's do 'er.
[motor starts]
Mount up!
-[Freddy] Are we ready?
-[Jamey] Yeah, we're ready.
Let's do this, guys.
-[Juan] Perfect.
-[Freddy] Let's
make it happen.
[tense music playing]
Let 'er rip!
[Christine]
It's all come to a head,
and this is
the moment of truth.
I'm nervous.
I'm legitimately nervous.
-[Freddy] First bucket!
-First bucket, Fred.
[Christine] Let's see
if this machine is
going to pump out some gold.
This is the first female duo
we've ever had,
so we want to cut them out
a little sign for their plant.
The name of the mine is
Chicks with Picks,
so I'm doing two picks
representing the two chicks.
I got all the letters cut out,
and I got the picks cut out.
So now we're just going
to cut the frame out.
-Hello, ladies.
-[Jamey] Hi, guys.
-Freddy and I kind
of had an idea.
-[Jamey] Oh, wow!
[Christine] Wow! [chuckles]
[Jamey] That is fantastic.
[Christine] Oh, my gosh.
That is so cool.
There you go.
[Jamey] Now it's official.
[Christine] Yeah! It is!
[tense music playing]
[Jamey] Perfect.
All right!
[narrator] From the edge
of the Grand Canyon,
it's do or die
for female miners,
Christine and Jamey.
[Juan] The hopper's
doing great, Fred.
That spray bar's doing
really good.
And the pitch now, you know,
it's pretty much able
to feed on its own.
Yeah, the spray bar system's
working great.
[narrator] Instead of needing
to manually rake down
the pay dirt,
Juan's ingenious
adjustable hopper
and Freddy's spray bar
self-feed dirt
into the trommel.
Usually I'm up there raking
all the material down,
so I'm almost out of a job.
[narrator] Freddy's manifold
pushes more water volume
into the trommel
to spray fine pay dirt
into the brand new sluice.
The material's coming out
way cleaner.
So this used to be
just caked with mud.
So that's awesome.
That sluice box,
I felt it. It's good.
-I'm happy with it, Freddy.
-I am, too.
[Juan] We got a Ford Pinto,
and we put
Ferrari parts on it.
-That's what
we did. [chuckles]
-[Freddy chuckles]
-[Juan] Right?
-You're right.
So who says women can't
be gold miners?
Last bucket!
[Christine] Last bucket!
[Christine] Shut it off!
Shut it off!
[Freddy] Thank you!
[Juan] How's it look
up there, Fred?
There's so much sand in it
that it's hard to see.
See anything in there, Juan?
[Juan] Uh-uh, nothing yet.
I'm not saying
that there's nothing
there, but
-What do you think, ladies?
-[Juan] Hello, ladies.
-Uh
-Oh. [chuckles nervously]
-That knot is
in the middle of my stomach.
-Right.
We got a third
of an ounce before,
-we need at least a half now.
-[Juan] Yeah.
Let's see what it is.
-[Jamey] Oh.
-[Christine] Oh, my goodness.
[narrator] Half an ounce
in four hours would mean
Jamey and Christine could hit
their 50-ounce season goal
and secure their future
as full-time miners.
There's a tenth of an ounce.
There's a tenth.
-There's a third
of an ounce right there
-[Juan] Right there.
-so that's how much we did
the first cleanup, right?
-[Christine] That's good.
-Our goal is a half,
right, before?
-[Jamey] Yeah.
[Christine] Yes.
Well, there's
a half an ounce right there,
-exactly a half an ounce.
-[Juan] There's your goal.
-Okay.
-[Freddy] There's your goal.
There's still more in there.
[Christine] Keep going,
Freddy, keep going.
-[Freddy] Well,
there just happens to be
-[Jamey] Wow.
three quarters
of an ounce there.
-Wow.
-[all laughing]
Go, Freddy, go!
-[Freddy] Okay.
-Oh, my goodness. Wow.
Well, let's keep going here.
There. We're at nine-tenths
of an ounce.
-[Jamey] Wow.
-[Freddy] Oh,
there's 1.17 ounces.
-What?
-What?
-[Freddy] In four hours.
-Oh, my God, you guys!
What?
1.25.
-It's actually an ounce
and a quarter.
-[Juan] Ounce and a quarter.
[Christine] Oh,
my gosh, you guys.
-And that's no BS.
-That's straight up.
-Wow. That's gonna
change our lives.
-Oh, my gosh, guys.
That's how bad
your plant was running.
-[Juan laughing]
-[Christine] Right.
Can we stick
with the positives?
[all laughing]
[narrator] Over 50 days, Jamey
and Christine could make
125 ounces
worth $285,000,
150% more than their goal.
Do you think you guys can
make it on that?
-[Christine] I think
that would be amazing.
-I think we can.
That's a lot of haircuts.
[all laughing]
The fixes have just
changed everything.
It has completely opened up
a whole new avenue
of possibilities.
[Christine]
We're not quitting.
This is go.
We want to be an inspiration
for other females
and to show them
you can be a miner.
If you put your mind to it,
you can do anything.
-[Christine] Wow.
-And just think
about how many
of these gullies
you guys have, right?
And they're all going
to carry gold.
[Juan] But do us a favor.
Let us know how it does.
-Yes.
-Right.
Well, I guess you guys can
actually add that
to your scale there,
-your dad's scale.
-[Christine] Oh,
happy to do so.
-[Juan] Yeah?
-[Christine] Yeah.
Yes. Right?
[Christine] At this point,
I know my dad's proud of us.
I know he's proud of me.
I know
that he's down here watching
and looking in the sluice,
hoping there's
some big gold nuggets.
-[Freddy] You ladies
take care, okay?
-[ladies] Thank you.
-Thank you, ladies.
Appreciate it.
-[Jamey] Thank you so much.
[victorious music playing]
It's a win. Huge win.
[softly] What just happened?
-[chuckles]
-Um.
-[Freddy]
On to the next one, Juano.
-[Juan] Let's go.
[Freddy] These ladies are
on a track now
where they can come out here
and they can make
a darn good living.
[Jamey] Oh,
that's so beautiful.
[Freddy] I was confident
that we could double
the amount of gold,
but we way more
than doubled it.
We did 400%.
Yeah.
If they want to sell
this place, I'll buy it.
Freddy and Juan, we wanted
to give you an update.
We have been running
for another three weeks,
and we've been getting
around that same amount
when you guys were here,
and oh, my gosh, it's made
such a huge difference.
We wanted to share
this pan for you.
-Oh, yeah. Right?
-Oh, my gosh, we are
getting consistent running.
We've gotten in three weeks
almost 42 ounces,
-which is about $95,000.
-Yeah.
-Yep.
-Oh, my gosh, right?
This is so exciting.
More than double the goal.
[Jamey] The truth is
we're rocking it.
-[Christine]
We're so grateful.
-Yeah.
[Christine] It's just
changed our world.
Chicks with Picks,
signing out.
Until the next time.
-Bye.
-Bye.