Gold Rush: Mine Rescue with Freddy & Juan (2021) s05e07 Episode Script

1
One of my favorite sayings is,
"if you can't do it, just try harder."
I've been mining here for 10 years.
I'm pretty proud of what I've built
for somebody that's self-taught.
There's definitely
gold in the ground here.
But a few years back, we're totally
shut down over permitting issues.
Since we've been up and running again,
we've been having so many breakdowns.
'Cause of the older equipment,
I'm one of the only miners
in the area who has jigs.
And there are no
experts around to help me.
I'm sure we're losing gold.
I'm over $250,000 behind.
I really need Freddy
and Juan's help here.
This is all I got.
Freddy dodge
I'd rather have gold in the
bank than gold in the mountain.
And Juan ibarra Not
bad for built in the field.
Want to make you rich.
It turns your dream
out here into a reality.
In the past five years, the
value of gold has doubled.
- There's a $3,000 nugget right there.
- -Whoo!
- But rookie miners
- Whoa. Whoa. Whoa.
Find it more elusive than ever.
If we don't recover more gold,
then we could lose everything.
But there is hope
Miracles, they do happen.
To turn desperation into fortune.
Freddy and Juan have one week
What you just did is genius.
To deliver a golden payday.
They have a future and they
know what they need to do.
I've never been in this part of
British Columbia before, Juan.
Yeah, from the looks of it,
if we get lost on this road,
we can go for hours
without seeing anything.
But one thing's good, I'm feeling better.
Roger that.
Well, you know, we're a couple of
weeks after my little health scare.
I was actually a little nervous
that I was having a stroke.
I ended up having a really
bad ear infection that went viral,
and it caused bell's palsy.
You know, unfortunately, I still
can't move the right side of my face,
but physically I feel great.
And it'll be something I can get over.
So I might as well get
back to what I love to do,
and that's being out with
Freddy and helping people.
Freddy and Juan journey
through the Canadian wilderness,
headed to the remote perron mine
where mine boss Dan
perron and his family
work their 1,800-acre claim off
the banks of the historic Fraser river.
So what do we know about Dan, Freddy?
Well, he's been mining
up here for quite some time.
Now, he's on the Fraser river?
Yeah, on the Fraser.
Historically, the Fraser river
has produced a lot of gold.
It's broke a lot of people as well, Juan.
In 1858, the discovery
of gold in the Fraser river
saw over 30,000 gold
seekers flood the region.
Over the next nine years,
they recovered more than 1.
6 million ounces of gold
worth $3 billion in today's money.
It's one of the bigger operations we help.
- Sure. Looks like it.
- Yeah.
- How's it going?
- How are we doing?
- Dan, I assume.
- I'm doing way better now with you guys.
- Hello.
- I'm Juan.
- Nice to meet you.
- Been an awesome pleasure.
- Brad.
- Brad. Pleasure, Brad.
How long have you guys
been mining out here?
We've been mining here for a while.
This is our 10th season.
Really? Well, what's
your role here, Brad?
I come down and help out
when I'm in between jobs.
Kind of and help out wherever I can.
Give him a little bit of a
break when he needs it.
Okay.
What do you do, Wendy?
I do all the paperwork, all
the books, pay all the bills.
We have the gold room and
might do the final cleanup.
- Yep.
- -Trying to do the best we can.
But I think and I hope
you guys think, too, as well,
that I kind of built something
pretty half decent for no training,
no help or anything like that.
Ten years ago, Dan
gave up his job in logging
to pursue his dream
of being a gold miner.
A big pan American jig.
A lot of people probably
thought I was crazy to let go
of what I'd already had built up
before and try something new.
I visited a friend of mine
that had a gold mine.
Just I got the fever.
So, yeah, I got gold fever pretty bad.
After buying a gold claim
in southern British Columbia,
Dan built his wash plant from scratch.
I love doing what I'm doing.
It was just my dream and
everything was going so well.
But in 2022, misfortune
struck when a clerical error
saw Dan's mine shut down
by the local government.
This shutdown was financially
and mentally just devastating.
Like, I was in a pretty
dark place for a long time.
Took him two years of fighting,
but finally he managed
to get his permits back.
After two years of sitting idle
It's so frustrating.
- What happened? That plug again?
- Yeah.
Dan's wash plant is now
plagued with problems.
We've been having so many breakdowns
with, you know, older equipment.
We end up running into a
lot of problems with the jigs,
plugging up the hoses.
I've never had somebody
really guiding me
or learning from anybody
else, just trying to figure it out.
But I've got a lot of money borrowed.
I'm under huge pressure
to get everything paid off.
This has to work. I've
got no backup plan.
That shutdown was just unbelievable.
But, my mom and dad and my
son helped me out financially.
So you borrowed some money
to keep going is what you're saying
- when you were shutdown.
- -We had no other choice.
- Yeah. Yeah. We borrowed over $250,000.
- Wow.
That's a lot.
Yeah.
How much gold have you
gotten out of the ground here?
Before the shutdown, we were
averaging close to 200 ounces a year.
- Really? Yeah.
- Yeah.
So what's your goal for the season?
Right now, to try to get caught up
with everything that we're behind on,
I'd sure like to see 250 ounces.
Wow.
That's a big goal.
Yeah, I know.
How far along are you right now?
I have to talk to my secretary.
Probably about 60.
- Really?
- Yeah.
Since we've been up and running again,
we're struggling to get caught up,
so we need to get
about another 190 ounces
and how much time do you have left?
We only got about eight weeks left.
Wow.
In two months, Dan will
need to hit four ounces a day
to reach his target.
- What's your gold look like here? Fine.
- It's pretty fine.
Actually, I have some.
- That's pretty gold, Juan?
- -Yeah.
Yep, that's what Fraser
river is famous for, fine gold.
So, this your plant?
Yeah. This is what we're working with.
- Yeah.
- -Got a lot of stuff going on here.
A lot of stuff.
- You got some jigs.
- Yeah, I love my jigs,
but they're getting really old.
Are you relying on your jigs as
your primary recovery source?
- Yes. Yeah.
- Okay.
Dan's wash plant includes two jigs,
which do a similar job to a shaker deck.
A combination of water
pulsing movements and gravity
encourage the heavier gold to
drop down into the catch pans below.
- You've got a primary jig there.
- That's correct, yeah.
And then the concentrated
material comes down here into this
- smaller jig.
- Yes. Yes.
And then over the
smaller jig into that sluice.
You been catching
much gold in that sluice?
We're getting gold, but I
need more of it for sure.
Well, let's do a four-hour test run
- and see what we see.
- You betcha.
Fire it up.
Dad, you ready?
Yeah. Please, son. Thanks.
First bucket launch.
Brad loads pay dirt through grizzly bars,
which screen the pay
into a hopper feeder.
The pay drops down onto a 35-foot
conveyor that feeds the shaker deck.
Oversized rocks are
discarded off the end.
While the pay is washed by a large jig
which separates out the fine gold.
So what are you thinking?
You know, I know he really likes the jig,
but honestly, it's a
little overly complicated.
A jig uses the density difference
between gold and worthless dirt
to separate the precious mineral.
Pay dirt is washed through
a layer known as ragging,
made up of small rocks
and metal ball bearings
which are vibrated on a screen
that allows the denser gold to be freed
and drop into the hutches below.
Gold-rich material then
passes through a small hopper
and is collected in another smaller jig.
While the fine gold is caught in a sluice.
Well, one thing's for certain, Juan,
he might have the
world's record for hoses.
Yeah.
You know he's overcomplicated a
scenario that should be pretty simple.
You know, one thing
that can be said about jigs
is that they're decent at dealing
with different types of pay,
- but also inconsistent pay.
- That's for sure.
What happened?
The water should be
coming out of there faster.
So I think something
is jammed up in there.
Yeah.
- What happened, Fred?
- -His pipe's plugged up there.
- Hey, Dan.
- How bad is it?
Shut everything down.
Hey!
What happened?
Well, I got a rock or
something jammed in that pipe.
At the perron mine, just ten
minutes into the first test
It's happened before.
A blocked pipe from the hopper
to the jig stops the operation.
We quite often lose time like this here.
We get rocks at where the
hose kind of narrows down.
They get plugged up right in there.
That screen in that
jig's probably opened up,
so that's why he's getting
some bigger material through.
Yeah.
Dan's primary jig at the top of
his plant is over 50 years old.
Anytime you get a
surge of material in there
that can't flow through that pipe,
- it'll get clogged up.
- Yep.
Juan suspects the screen is worn
which allows rocks from
the ragging to fall through
plugging up Dan's pipe below.
- That's better.
- Got it?
Yeah. There was a rock in there, too.
It's embarrassing to
have something that small
and a rock shut the whole thing down.
The small stuff is what's killing us.
It's just It's so frustrating.
Are you ready?
Yes. Fire it up, Brad.
Try again.
We need to do something
about that sluice box
because it doesn't have any riffles.
Those mats there,
you know, like, I know,
there's no storage there for any material.
I agree.
Without riffles to help trap the gold,
Dan is probably losing precious
material out of the end of his sluice.
What do you think, Juan, last bucket?
Last bucket.
We're exactly four hours right now.
Hey, Dan.
You want to holler at him, "last bucket"?
Okay.
I'll clean this one up.
Dan starts to clean the
mats from his sluice box,
which tilts to one side
for a quicker cleanup.
Let's go pan this real quick.
While Juan pans the tailings
to see if the primary jig is losing gold.
There's a bunch of fine gold in there.
There's quite a bit of gold in there.
I don't wanna look, man.
- That's wow.
- Look at all that.
You know, for one little pan.
Yeah.
Hundred colors in here.
There's way too much to be losing.
I sure as hell didn't think
I was losing that much.
- That should have never been lost.
- -Yeah.
You guys want to get
everything cleaned up,
and what we'll do is we'll meet up
with you guys tomorrow at the gold room.
- Yes.
- And then we'll see what we've got.
That's great. Thank you so much.
- Okay. We'll see you in the morning.
- You betcha.
- Sounds good. All right.
- Awesome.
They're going to help us.
I know they will help us.
How's it going, guys?
- Hello.
- Hello, ma'am.
- Hello.
- I'm Juan.
- Nice to meet you, Juan.
- Nice to meet you too.
At the perron's gold room
Dan's mom rolande helps clean
the concentrate from the test run.
So do you help Dan quite
a bit here in the gold room?
- A fair amount.
- Yeah.
- Yeah. We all work together.
- Okay.
And that Which is a nice part.
- You know.
- Yeah.
One nice thing is I
know I'll never get fired.
So Dan was saying that
when he got shut down,
you came to his rescue
financially to keep the mine?
Yes, he works very hard.
- No, two ways about it.
- Yeah.
- He doesn't get much sleep or much rest.
- -Yeah.
And I love my son.
So I always say if he needs
something, well, here it is.
I got it.
That's a beautiful thing.
Sometimes it's very tough,
but like he always says,
"I don't know what I
would do without you."
Well, you're a great mom.
- Thank you.
- I love it.
The moment of truth?
I'm pretty nervous.
Weight it up, Juan.
Okay.
For Dan to hit his 250-ounce target
- There's an ounce.
- There's an ounce. Yeah.
The gold weigh must
deliver at least two ounces.
1.16.
It's definitely shy of what
we're gonna need for sure.
If Dan continues to run at this rate,
he'll face a shortfall of over
$180,000 by the end of the season.
I need some help.
You know, honestly, when
Freddy and I watched the plant run,
you know, we did notice a few
things that we can improve on, so
Okay.
Yeah. Juan and myself will
go put our heads together
- and see how we can help you.
- Okay.
- I sure appreciate it, you guys, so much.
- -No worries.
- All right. See you in a bit.
- Thanks so much, you guys, you bet.
I sure need more than
that to be able to survive.
But, there's still a long ways to go.
And also get back to a life.
I mean, and we've sacrificed, like, a
lot of things 'cause all we do is work.
We just can't keep
going with more losses.
What do you think, juano?
You know, he took a process that
should be simple and overcomplicated it.
Yep.
So basically what we can do,
leave his jigs the way he has them,
'cause he likes them
and they are working.
- They are.
- -But they are losing some gold.
So I think that would
be a good opportunity
to work on that jig
and put new screens in.
I agree.
What I'm thinking too, you see
where he plugged up that pipe
coming out of the
hopper off the jig, right
Yeah.
We build a small sluice
box instead of that pipe
Okay, yeah.
From the hopper over to his little jig.
You know, and right now, off those
jigs, he already has the sluice box.
- Yeah, but it's pretty worthless.
- -Yeah.
The mats are all ruined and warped.
So what I'd like to do
is actually build them
- a good sluice there.
- Yeah.
And then we're gonna have
another sluice box over here
- underneath this jig here.
- Okay.
So basically that's really going
to focus on that fine gold recovery
- that he's losing.
- Yep.
To stop Dan's discharge pipe
which runs into his
secondary jig from clogging,
Freddy and Juan will
replace it with a larger pipe
and small sluice.
To prevent gold from being lost,
the primary jig will be upgraded
with a new grate and screen.
Dan's sluice is losing fine gold.
Freddy will replace it and add
new carpets and his signature riffles.
Finally, they'll install another sluice
off the end of Dan's primary jig
to maximize his gold recovery.
- How bad is it?
- -Well, it's not terrible.
But there is definitely a few
things that we want to do.
Okay.
One, that sluice box
that you have right now
- that's coming off those smaller jigs
- -Yeah.
- We want to replace it.
- Replace it.
- Okay.
- Yeah.
And get something in
there that can hold gold.
Okay.
We're thinking of getting
that material that's coming
off your big jigs, going
the other direction
Yeah.
And then putting a sluice under it.
Okay.
But, you know, we were
down for 10-15 minutes
to clean that little pipe out.
So what we want to do is
put a bigger discharge port,
and then we're actually gonna
put that into a small sluice run
that goes on top of the jig.
Okay. Okay.
Instead of that pipe
that's plugging up on you.
And one of the other things that we
saw is the bottom of your jig screen.
- It's leaking a lot of material
- -Yeah.
And a bunch of rocks.
So we're gonna fix that screen.
That's something we're
going to try to address as well.
- That sounds great, yeah.
- But, you know,
with everything we talked about,
we're looking at about
$4,000 in materials.
Then we'd like an ounce of gold apiece.
That just covers our costs.
Not a problem, boy. That
sounds just awesome.
- We'll deal, then.
- Unbelievable. Unbelievable.
I've got faith in you guys, for sure.
We'll see you in the morning.
You don't know how good
that makes me feel, man.
See you in a bit, guys.
- Thanks.
- Thanks.
I know those guys know what
they're doing and they'll get it done.
Hopefully, it'll make a
huge, huge, huge difference.
- How's it going, juano?
- -Good, buddy.
- How you feeling? No.
- Not good.
In British Columbia,
it's the first full build
day of the perron rescue.
I'm dizzy, Juan.
But there's a problem.
Yeah, I don't feel good at all.
- Okay. Yeah.
- A headache and nauseous.
My blood sugar is really messed up.
I'm not trying to let you down, buddy.
No worries. Your health is first.
Go see your doctor right away, Fred.
- All right.
- Sorry, man.
Nothing to be sorry about, buddy.
Thank you, buddy.
Freddy wouldn't mind me saying this,
but he was diagnosed with diabetes
and it's been a battle for him.
I know Freddy has the
greatest intentions in the world
and he was reluctant to go.
But it's the right decision.
Go home and take care
of yourself, buddy. Really.
Good luck. Buddy.
Bye.
You know, being down
without Freddy is tough.
It's a lot more weight on my shoulders,
and it's gonna be a lot
more work than I anticipated.
But fortunately, Brad and Dan
are really good at what they do,
so they're able to help.
We're gonna do the best we can.
- How are you this morning?
- -Could be better.
Freddy Freddy ended
up going home this morning.
Really?
Yeah, he he wasn't feeling good at all.
You know, he was so
sick that he had to leave.
Yeah, I know. I'm glad
that he's on his way home.
Yeah, yeah. No, it's just the right call.
But we still got a boatload of work to do.
We're gonna have to
kind of divide and conquer.
Put us to work. Put us to work.
Okay. Brad, if you could go down
there and start removing that grate.
Dan, we're gonna start
cutting some stuff out for the jig.
- Yeah.
- Okay, I like that.
Let's go, guys.
Yeah.
Missing a couple of pieces in there.
At the wash plant, Brad prepares for
Juan's new grate and the steel screen
which will keep the ragging from
falling through and clogging the jig pipes.
This is a pretty old piece of equipment.
Part of it's made out of wood.
As you can see in here,
with these starting to droop down,
starting to get holes in here.
So the rocks go down through the jig,
and that plugs up our hoses down below.
It causes big downtime.
So hopefully, we can
get this fixed properly
so we don't have to do this again.
- Do you mind if I watch?
- Yeah, come on in.
- Don't get scared and fall off.
- -Yeah.
At the cut trailer That's cool.
Juan uses his plasma cutter
to build a new steel frame for Dan's jig.
Redoing the top grate with steel.
That will make a big difference
because this still has the
original wood grate in it.
So this will recover more gold.
A 25,000-degree jet of plasma
slices through the
four-Gauge piece of steel.
That is nuts.
I absolutely cannot
believe what this thing does.
That, man, is better than watching TV.
We just cut the grates
out for the jig right now.
The grates that he has, they're made
out of wood and they're all rotted out.
So by doing this, ultimately, it's
going to help with his gold recovery.
So we'll get them welded up and get
them down there and get them installed.
Let's get those pieces.
Bring it in towards me just a little bit.
There you go.
All right.
Perfect.
No, none of that.
- Unreal.
- I get lucky every now and then.
- Yeah.
- Don't me, man.
All right, let's do the ends first.
Just like a puzzle.
This means so much.
What this will do for us just rekindles
the hope that we can make it work.
These upgrades will make
all the difference in the world.
Yeah. You were shut down
for a couple of years, though?
- Yeah, yeah.
- And how was that for you?
It it buggered me up so
bad mentally and stuff like that.
I'm sure it felt like everything
was ripped away from you.
- Well, it was. It was taken away.
- Yeah.
And didn't even know whether I was
going to be able to get going again,
and it just put me so far behind.
It was just unbelievable.
We're trying to catch up
and I got to thank my family
for bearing with me through
some really dark times.
I I didn't like myself for a long time.
Yeah.
Yeah.
A $2,000,000 investment
plus mounting bills
increased the pressure.
Financially, this This shutdown
just Just about put me under.
On the verge of losing everything,
Dan's parents stepped in,
keeping up payments on machinery,
while Dan couldn't mine.
Mom and dad helped
me out huge financially.
But dad passed away a few years ago.
Yeah, I sure wish dad Dad was here.
And I know he was really
proud with what we're doing.
He helped me out so much and.
I can't quit thinking about him, too.
And miss him.
I'm pretty sure he'd be proud of me.
It's just so hard to think
how far behind I am right now.
We'll make her. Too stubborn to quit.
You know, I'm healing somewhat,
- but it's going to take a while
- Yeah.
You know, before I'm
back to normal, but
Well, I'm really hoping with
what we've got going on here,
it's gonna gonna
help you get in a better,
- you know, headspace.
- -Yeah, I got so much hope for that.
And, you know, now, like,
even just having you guys here,
trying to give me a
hand to get going again
means so much to me, man.
Well, it's a pleasure being
here with you, for sure.
But, yeah, let's get these put together
- and we'll get them down.
- Right on. Thanks, Juan.
It's been a battle for him.
All the work we're doing here, at
the end of the day is to help Dan.
And we're really hoping that
the improvement we do here
are going to be able to help
them pay off some of those bills.
His mom, his son, and really
make this mine profitable.
- How'd this come out? That looks good.
- Good. Yeah.
I mean, the cuts you made
on there is just unbelievable.
At the cut trailer,
Juan and Dan have finished
the new grate for the jig.
You're gonna get down
there and install this.
And put the screen
in and put this on top.
I'll see you in a bit. I'm gonna
get started on these sluice boxes,
but if you need anything,
come up and get me.
- You betcha. Thanks, Juan.
- Yeah.
While Juan begins building
Dan's three new sluice boxes
We're installing these
new stainless steel screens
to replace the old rubber mats.
- Is that the right way?
- I think so.
Perfect.
Dan and Brad install the new
screens and grate into the jig
to stop clogging and
improve their gold recovery.
- Are you ready?
- Yes.
So now we're gonna
drop the new top rack in.
- Turn.
- That's all I got, son.
- Okay, let it out.
- Okay.
It's so great to have my
son here giving me a hand,
and I sure appreciate
him helping me out.
Come down for a second.
Back that way.
- Down.
- Okay.
Perfect.
I'm starting to see a little bit more
of a future down here at the mine.
Especially after Freddy
and Juan have been here.
Fits like a glove.
Perfect.
Dad does not stop.
He goes and goes and goes all day.
He doesn't take breaks,
and I think my dad deserves to have
this mine produce what it should be.
Not losing the gold that we are.
Will that pay the bills?
It'll be so great to see my
parents get back on their feet,
to be able to pay off the debts
and be able to actually start
enjoying life a little bit more.
I'm definitely worried, and I've
got to just try to look out for him.
There you go.
Rack up.
New great installed,
Dan and Brad refill the jig with
small rocks and ball bearings,
which helps separate
the gold from the tailings.
I'm so super excited
to see what we're going to
get after the modifications.
When you start seeing that gold
coming out, man, it does something to you.
Okay. That was a big job well done.
- How are we doing, guys? That looks good.
- Okay.
- All right.
- -I got the big sluice box almost done.
I can't wait to see that.
We're getting ready
to weld the tops on it.
But the pressure is still
on. We still got a lot to do.
Yeah.
Well, get some good rest tonight
'cause tomorrow is gonna be a big day.
All right, gentlemen. Well, thank you.
- Thank you.
- See you in the morning.
- Have a good night.
- You too.
You know, this would
have been a lot of work
if Freddy and myself were
here and we were 100%,
and that's not the case.
Freddy's not here and I'm not 100%,
and it's still the same amount of work.
Hopefully, we'll get it done.
Wow.
- Hey, guys.
- Good morning.
How are you doing this morning?
Good. Finished welding
on these sluice boxes.
Those look so good,
man. That's just awesome.
So what I'd like to do is
get these boxes on the truck
- and down to the plant.
- You bet.
You're clear over here now, yeah.
To prepare for tomorrow's test run
Pull your back end this way a little bit.
The team will install
Juan's new sluice boxes,
which will catch any
fine gold the jigs miss.
We built three sluice boxes,
so all the gold that's recovered
is going to be gold that
they would have lost.
So we got quite a bit
done in the last few days.
We've still got a ton to do.
We got to get down there
and get everything installed.
Hopefully tomorrow we'll be
able to get this plant running.
- They're home, Juan.
- Awesome.
Made it in one piece.
Yeah.
So we'll get everything installed
and get this plant running.
You betcha.
Juan's plan, install his
three new sluice boxes
to streamline Dan's
overcomplicated wash plant
and recover more gold.
Okay. So you want me up top, then?
- Yep.
- Good to hook it.
Yeah, go ahead and hook it.
First they install the new steel sluice
off the end of the primary jig Almost.
To increase their recovery by up to 20%.
That's good, right there.
There we go.
So we're running out of time, guys,
and I hate to do this,
but I'll finish this up.
If you guys want to help me,
we'll start pulling that old sluice off.
Perfect.
If you guys want to get
going on that, that'd be great.
- I'll finish this up.
- We're on it.
To be ready in time,
Juan finishes welding
the new primary sluice.
While Dan and Brad cut out the old one.
Got to get it done.
Nothing wrong with a little pressure.
It gets the adrenaline rushing.
Coming at ya.
Okay. Turn a little bit.
You're good. You're good.
It's way better.
Second sluice done.
Probably one of the smallest
sluices we've ever built.
- Really?
- -It's a really cute little one.
The team install the final mini sluice.
This is where I had the problem
with, the first test when
my hose was plugged.
This fix will stop material getting clogged
between Dan's hopper and small jig.
A little further down. There you go.
That looks great. You
guys got a lot of work done.
And I definitely appreciate all the help.
- I'll see you in the morning, then.
- -You betcha.
You know, I'm a little nervous.
We got a lot going on here.
We made a lot of changes.
But I'm really hoping it's
gonna be a big improvement
because at the end of
the day, Dan and Brad,
they need the big improvements.
But ultimately we don't know until
we actually run and do the cleanup.
Not only do Freddy and I have our
own trucks and trailers on the road,
we have a crew that runs with us.
And unfortunately, they're terrible
drivers, and they always hit rocks,
so we get stuck with
repairing their tires for them.
You know, we're out in
the middle of nowhere,
so you gotta improvise.
But it works.
Ian, here's your tire back.
You can put it on yourself.
- Next time, don't hit rocks, okay?
- -Thanks, Juan.
- You ready?
- Yeah.
Bucket number one of
our final four-hour test.
At the perron mine in British Columbia
Stop the first bucket right there.
Moment of truth.
With Freddy out of action,
Juan's fixes will be put to the test.
Well, I guess today is the day.
We will see how this final run turns out.
All right, now, your big
sluice coming off the jig.
We'll go look at it real quick.
Juan's brand-new 12-foot-long
sluice at the end of the jig
has been added to catch gold that
Dan had previously lost in the tailings.
So all the gold that's
recovered in that box
is going to be gold that
they would have lost.
You can see that material
versus what we had in the first run.
That looks better.
We're just gonna watch that mini sluice.
Before, Dan had a discharge pipe
that was getting clogged with rocks.
Now Juan's jig upgrade and mini
sluice allow water and gold concentrate
to go through the system
without plugging up.
- And that's running really good.
- -Yeah.
And then we'll take a
look at that sluice box
that you have right now that's
coming off those smaller jigs.
Yeah.
Finally, Juan's last sluice
has been fitted with
custom-made carpets and riffles
to recover fine gold.
- That one works better.
- There you go.
You can still see the top of the riffles.
Yeah, I can see it. Yeah.
You see it dancing
around, pushing material out.
- Yeah.
- It's good. Great.
It's all coming together.
But I'm nervous as hell.
Well, that's the last bucket.
- Let's go ahead and cut it off.
- Okay.
I can pull that.
Holy!
I can't believe how much
gold is in that sucker.
Look at this. Just on
the carpet. You see that?
And it's real fine stuff.
Man, I sure didn't
expect to see that much.
Surprising?
We'll start rolling these up,
and now all we can do is hope.
We took a look at the sluice
boxes and they look amazing.
Already, we can see gold.
You know, it looks really
good, but we really don't know
until we actually get it on the
scale and know what's there.
You know, it's been a
tough week. I'm exhausted.
I'm just hoping that
there's enough gold here
for Dan to be able to
pay off his son, his mom
and really make some money here.
- How we doing?
- Good.
Well, we got the gold.
Ooh, I'm nervous.
You know, our first test run,
what do we get, 1.16 -yeah. 1.6.
And in order to get caught
up you need 190 ounces.
Yeah.
In order to accomplish
that in the time you have left,
you need about four
ounces a day, roughly.
I can't wait to see it.
But let's take a look at it.
To hit their season goal of $575,000,
this gold weigh must
deliver at least two ounces.
Half an ounce, right there,
a little over half an ounce.
Yeah.
Call it one ounce right there.
So that's pretty close to
what we had our first run.
And let's dump the rest of it in.
Look at that. 2.96.
Holy. That is amazing.
- That is unfrickinbelievable.
- Amazing.
- Freakin' crazy.
- That's awesome.
That's pretty dang good right there.
2.96 ounces, or almost six ounces a day,
will bring Dan's gold total to 344
ounces by the end of the season.
That's a great outcome right there.
Worth over $750,000,
way over Dan's season gold.
I'm really excited about that for you guys.
And who knows, you know,
that might be a little better pain,
but the plant definitely
is recovering more gold.
- That is so awesome.
- Yeah.
That's pretty nice.
I'm just ecstatic.
Unbelievable. It's more than
I ever could have imagined.
And know for sure, I'm going to be
able to get mom and Brad paid back.
Maybe I can buy my own mine.
- Thank you so much.
- You're very welcome. Come here.
- I'll take a hug.
- You're a sweetheart.
Juan has taught us so much
over and above what he's built us.
That man's a hero to me, man.
Definitely happy with that.
Excited. I'm excited for
the future for you guys.
It has been a pleasure.
Thank you so much.
- Thank you so much.
- Thank you so much.
Thank you.
- And wish the best to Freddy.
- Definitely.
I spoke to him earlier
and he's doing a lot better
and he's ready to get back at it.
But I'll let Freddy know you
guys send your best wishes.
Yeah. You drive safe. It's been awesome.
- Thank you.
- Thank you so much.
All right, guys, see you later.
Holy crap.
That's crazy.
To see my son accomplish
so much makes me feel
on top of the world.
Thanks, mom.
- I love you.
- I love you too.
I'm excited for Dan and his family
and the future that they have now,
to be honest, I was a little nervous.
You know, Freddy not being here.
Fortunately, it worked out.
We did the best we
could with what we had.
Now Freddy can get back out
here with me doing what he loves.
- How are you doing, Fred?
- -I'm doing a lot better, Juan.
- A lot better.
- I'm feeling good.
I've got my blood sugar straightened out.
That's good.
Yeah, so I'll see you soon.
Sounds great, buddy. Get ready
and we'll be back on the road
in a couple of weeks.
Hi, Freddy and Juan, Dan perron here.
I just can't thank you guys enough.
It's been crazy how much more
gold the plant's been catching
since the fixes that Juan did.
Our last cleanup, we got 16 ounces.
You know, to do that is unbelievable.
How's it looking, mom?
We are well on track on
getting to our season goal.
We have started paying
mom back quite a bit
and also Brad as well.
So the whole process and
what you guys did for me
is just so unbelievably awesome.
Thanks so much again.