Gold Rush (2018) s05e18 Episode Script
Hundreds of Ounces
In the Klondike OK, give me some.
.
.
Parker's 2,000-ounce season gold is within reach.
The gold's in the ground, we just need to get it through the plant before we're froze outta here.
But as winter hits, his crew mounts a rebellion.
Everyone's wore out.
I don't know what the (BLEEP) going on! Our backs have been broken.
And when the big freeze wreaks havoc Stop the plant! .
.
his season comes to an abrupt end.
I don't think it's worth fighting, let's hope we got our 160 ounces in the box.
For the Hoffman crew We gotta get 1,000 ounces.
Period.
That's just the way it is.
.
.
despite finding good gold Woo! (CHEERING) .
.
they fail to impress their claim owner.
Will you stick with us? No.
And for Tony Beets, after six months of back-breaking work It's all hooked up.
Good.
.
.
when his big moment arrives It's time to let the water in.
.
.
it turns into a shipwreck.
Get outta the way, this is serious.
How do you like that? Scribner Creek, the Klondike.
As the mining season draws to a close, Parker Schnabel and his crew confront an old enemy - the Yukon winter.
Been a fun morning.
Shut down about 7 o'clock this morning when we do a shift change, so we were down for about an hour.
In that hour's time, the plant froze solid.
There's so much ice on the valves, we can't open or close 'em.
We've had to bust the ice off.
Come on, girl, shake it off.
I think the Yukon's saying it's time to shut down.
Parker is just 160 ounces short of his 2,000 ounce, $2.
4 million gold, but time is running out.
We've got a good amount of gold to find, and we need to get it through the plant before we're froze outta here.
Parker's crew is running main pay from the Berm Island, and it's the best dirt they've run all season, and puts them within striking distance of their goal.
But after a gruelling six month mining season, Parker's men are burned out and ready to head south.
We're tired.
We're exhausted.
Pretty ready to go home.
And it's just like, really? We're (BLEEP) still here doing this.
Open the gates of Guantanamo Bay, Yukon territory, Let us out.
What the (BLEEP)?! At the plant, the freezing temperatures have had a devastating effect on Parker's water system.
Great.
This damn thing's frozen too, it won't budge.
Hey! Chris! I mean, the valve just cracked open and it's spraying water all over the place.
Gonna have to shut her down.
Not the best day of the season, that's for sure.
I don't think it's worth fighting.
We need to call it.
That's it, huh? Yeah.
All right.
Let's see what we've got.
I figured this day might come but I really didn't expect it.
Hey, Rick.
Yeah, go ahead.
Man, the wash plant is screwed, I'm calling it.
Holy (BLEEP), really? Yeah, let's hope we got 160 ounces in the box and we're done.
You guys hear him? We're outta here, Greg.
OK, give me some.
We really need this to hit our 2,000 mark now.
For sure.
Think it's in here? Certainly hope so.
Wow! I mean, that's looking darned good right there.
Whoa! It looks good.
Looks real good.
Yeah.
No kidding.
(BLEEP) There's some nice gold in this clean out.
I don't know if it's good enough, but it looks pretty good.
A lot of good size pickers in here.
Look at that, there's probably 50 more in there just like that, plus who knows what the fine gold looks like.
Be nice to get over 2,000, you know, to succeed our goal.
Let's finish good, finish right.
Finish, get ready to go home.
Have a lot of confidence, a lot of hope in this clean up right here.
All right, so this is like the last supper, huh? We pack her up tomorrow? (LAUGHTER) There's gotta be a reason for a party.
Who needs a beer? To hit his 2,000-ounce goal, Parker needs another 160 ounces.
So this clean-out .
.
that only brought us to 1,940.
A hundred ounces? Plus Uh oh, here it comes.
Holy Moses! Ho! Which brings us to 2,060.
Bam! (LAUGHS) Yeah, 2,000 ounces, buddy.
All the way across the table, buddy.
The 220-ounce clean-up brings their gold total to 2,060 ounces, worth $2.
47 million.
Parker's crew has smashed their goal, with more than twice the gold they got last season.
Then why did you call? (LAUGHTER) Truth is, you guys have done a hell of a job, you know, and I'd like to thank you all for that.
I do know that you guys have put in a hell of a long season, but we've got a little bit of work to do, a little reclamation and some clean-up work.
Let's get back to our families.
Here's to you guys.
Good job, you know.
Good job.
I know we got good ground; that main pay was good, but you guys did it.
West .
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at McKinnon Creek, the Hoffmans are poised to redeem themselves.
Got 936 ounces.
Come hell or high water, we're gonna get 1,000.
They are just 64 ounces short of their thousand ounce gold.
But the only thawed pay dirt Andy has left is the access ramp into the higher cut.
This is the last of our pay dirt in our higher cut, so hopefully this dirt's got in it what we need to get to 1,000.
It's been a long season, but we're getting close.
There's gold in that there sluice box.
That's it, Kev, you're done.
Take it to the plant.
Roger that.
Todd, this is Andy, do you copy? Yeah, I got a copy.
Hey, Todd, we just loaded the last little bit of pay dirt out of the higher cut.
That's it, we're done.
Are you sure you got every nook and cranny out of there, huh? We've scraped everything that's in that cut to scrape.
There's no more pay dirt in that; we've scraped every frozen piece we could find everywhere.
It's done.
Ah, 10-4.
10-4.
Dude, we're knocking at the door of 1,000 ounces, and we need it.
For us to come back next year, we gotta get 1,000 ounces.
Period.
That's just the way it is.
Jack loads the last of the pay into the plant, and the Hoffman crew shuts down Monster Red for this season.
So this is our final mat pull.
You know what? Hopefully we got enough in here; it's gonna be touch and go.
They've mined over $1 million in gold this season, but their target is $1.
2 million.
I'm feeling nervous.
We've never been in reach like this, where this clean-up could do it.
Jack begins the final clean-up.
With another 64 ounces, the Hoffman crew will hit their goal for the first time ever.
I'll tell you what, after last season I didn't think anybody would wanna take another risk with me on this.
You guys did it.
We didn't give up on the gold mining dream.
I'm proud.
Proud to be part of this team, and you guys need to be proud of what we did.
Every one of you.
And guess what? If it's possible, we're gonna come back and we're gonna do it even better next year.
That's gotta be Peter.
The claim owner, Peter Tallman, arrives to collect his cut of the gold.
Hey, Todd.
How you doing, buddy? You guys knew that we got 936.
There it is.
Guys, we needed 64 ounces We got 99.
(CHEERING) Good job, guys.
Yes! The Hoffmans season total is 1,035 ounces, worth well over $1.
2 million.
Yeah! For the first time in five years, Todd and his crew have finally hit their goal.
They've pulled more gold out of the ground than all of their previous seasons combined.
Awesome.
Yeah! Peter, after last year not many guys would take a chance with us, and you did, and here you go, here's your cut; and we're thankful, we really are.
Yeah! Great, man.
Todd, that's not good enough.
It's not good enough by quite a way.
We had projections of you guys doing a substantial amount more than what you've done.
I'm really sorry.
This is a disappointment.
Good night, gentlemen.
.
.
McKinnon Creek.
The mining season is over; the Hoffman crew packs for the long journey home.
You know what? You never know when you start a season how it's gonna end but I never thought it would end like this.
Feels like we came up short.
But their leader refuses to call it quits.
At this point in time I'm in limbo, and I don't know really where I stand now with Peter.
He has the ability, if he doesn't believe in us, to kick us off, and I don't want that.
Todd confronts Peter Tallman at his office in Dawson City.
Peter.
Hey, Todd.
We need to talk.
What happened the other night? I was just disappointed and I had to walk away.
Pretty much anybody could come in here with the production equipment and crew you've built and get 1,000 ounces, but you have to achieve much more gold.
I just feel like we deserve another chance; another shot at this next year.
Will you stick with us? No, probably not.
It's poor business.
Beyond your claim, we have two separate known pay streaks that have potentially multi-millions of dollars of gold contained; my job is to find somebody who can produce gold from that, and I just couldn't offer it to you at 1,000 ounces.
It's just not enough.
Take into consideration how hard my guys have worked at this, and how much heart and soul we put into this thing.
What's it gonna take to keep our claim? Prove that you can get the gold and put it in a box.
Go get me 300 ounces.
Oh.
You know, if you'd have said 25 or 50 I would have said, "Maybe we could do that.
" 100 would be a stretch.
We don't have any pay dirt left.
That amount is not negotiable.
If we get that gold, I want this whole thing cos what I'm gonna have to do to get that gold is damn near impossible.
But I want the whole thing.
If you can get 300 ounces more, 1,300 in total, you got a deal.
Another 300 ounces, worth $360,000, would require the Hoffmans to mine over a third more gold.
Everything's freezing up, we're out of pay dirt, we're out of time, so to be honest with you, you know, what he wants it's close to impossible, but we gotta get 300 more ounces, and there's just no ifs ands or buts about it.
That's it.
Back at McKinnon Creek, Todd's crew is preparing to hit the road.
Guys.
What's up? Here's the deal.
Peter wants 300 more ounces.
If we don't make it, I don't think we'll be back mining again.
Let's be real, there's nothing left.
It took us better than four months to get 1,000 ounces, and now you want us to pull a third of that? Hear me out.
For 300 more ounces, we could get the rest of these claims, all their placer claims, which is six more miles of ground.
That's the future, guys.
There's three or four hotspots there, it's rich.
And I don't know if it's possible, and I wouldn't blame you guys if you packed your stuff now and left, but if there's a chance to get six more miles of ground, and it's good ground with good gold, I think we'll kick ourselves if we don't step up to the plate.
Guys, we got a future here if we can pull this off.
I think we ought to try it.
If we don't make it, I'm still proud of everybody.
We know what our future will be if we don't try.
We won't be back; so what have we got to lose? I mean, if we're gonna do this, we need to get after it like right now.
If the Hoffman crew can't find thawed pay dirt, their days mining the Klondike could be over.
I don't know if I'm gonna be able to get the gold, but if we don't make our goals it won't be because we didn't do everything possible.
North, at Paradise Hill .
.
Parker arrives to give Tony his final cut of the season.
Yeah, it just feels good to hit our goal, you know.
Hopefully Tony is as impressed as I am.
Hey, Tony, how are you doing? Yeah.
I'm about to show you.
210, 220.
Point four five.
2,060.
It's double what we did last year.
At the beginning of the season, Tony locked Parker into a one-sided deal - the more gold Parker mines, the higher the percentage that Tony gets.
That'ser44.
1.
I need a better royalty deal.
I can't afford to pay 25, 30% royalty.
Yeah, but I should get rewarded for doing better.
The royalty that I've paid you, with this included, is over $400,000.
The more gold I find, the more you take? That's insane.
OK.
If we can't meet somewhere in the middle then I'll have to look somewhere else.
I understand that, I'm not trying to push the issue.
With him on that ground, my wings are pretty well clipped.
Right? Not much you can do.
Can't argue with a closed door.
.
.
At McKinnon Creek .
.
the Hoffman crew return to their mined out cuts in a desperate hunt for any leftover pay that may have thawed.
We wanna be back here, we have to do it.
This is good ground and I'm gonna find some pay.
They've hit their 1,000 ounce goal, but if they're to hold onto their claim for next season the crew must now find another 300 ounces.
Desperate times, desperate measures.
It's our future we're dealing with so maybe I can get a little bit more out of some of these corners.
Kevin tests the ground in the old cut next to the wash plant.
But it's solid bedrock.
Kevin, tell me you got something good.
Todd, I wish I could say send me a rock truck, but I've got no pay and I'm getting nothing.
All right, keep trying.
Hey, Todd, you have a copy? Yeah, I got a copy.
I'm up here in the higher cut.
I've scratched all these corners; everything is frozen as hard as a rock.
There's no gold in here.
Not good.
Hey, Dad, what are you finding? Anything? No, it doesn't look good, Todd.
It's all frozen.
This doesn't look good at all.
McKinnon Creek is frozen.
Getting anything? Nothing.
There's something we haven't thought about.
We're standing on it.
The haul road? Right here.
We hit a pocket that was the best pocket I've seen gold mining - we had 132 ounces out of this, Todd.
I think the gold is right under our feet.
I don't know, Dave.
That was the worst clean-up we ever had there.
We don't have anything to lose here.
Let's do this.
All right.
Dig some test holes.
All right.
The whole road runs between two of their old cuts.
They mined the south side, and it was full of gold .
.
but on the other side of the road, the returns were poor.
Dave is hoping the south side pay channel extends under the haul road.
If he's right, they'll have an accessible strip of thawed pay dirt.
With no time to spare, Dave and Andy roll out to test Dave's theory.
So here's what I'm thinking, if you canerdig up the road, cast it to one side, and then I will push it out of your way.
I think that's our best chance of getting this done.
10-4, Dave, I'll sling it to you; you push it out of the way.
Let's get this done.
If the gold from the haul road cut is underneath this road, I think we got a good shot at it.
We can see snow off in the hills, so we don't have a lot of time.
So we need to get this done as quick as we can.
You know, hopefully it'll be good under here, but we won't know until we get the overburden off.
Yeah, right here is everything we've got.
Every gold miner is always looking for the next season or the next clean-up or the next bucketful.
It can always be there; that's gold mining.
It can always be a big payoff, and that's what we're hoping for underneath this road.
So I'm looking to see some big black rocks at the bottom of this.
I'm looking to see this deep pocket in the bedrock and a lot of gold in a pan.
That's what I'm hoping for.
We don't have a Plan B at this point.
It's all or nothing.
With the overburden cleared away, Andy digs a test hole OK, that's it.
Right at bedrock I got the big rocks.
It looks good, let me go grab a pan.
OK.
What are you guys seeing? This one pan could determine whether the Hoffmans return next season.
This could be a good pan.
You're freakin' kidding me.
I think we're on it.
Dave's plan pays off.
Look at that! We might just pull this off.
There's good gold under the haul road.
This is awesome.
I don't know if we'll hit 300 ounces, but we're definitely gonna put a dent in it with this.
Let's start running pay.
Let's get rolling.
Let's go.
Let's get a couple rock trucks down here and we're gonna take out the haul road.
I think we're right on top of where that channel was.
We got a bit of a break.
We're gonna have good pay dirt.
We're gonna do everything humanly possible to make it.
We need to make it.
East .
.
at Eureka Creek.
It's all hooked up.
Tony Beets has finally rebuilt his million dollar dredge.
After six months of back-breaking work, he's ready to breathe life into his 75-year-old gold factory.
Suction's in.
We got it hooked up, now we just gotta chain it down and we're good to go.
There's one final step before Tony can complete this epic resurrection.
The dredge sits on a dry dock beside a small pond.
When Tony opens the flood gate from a larger holding pond, he'll release a torrent of water to float the 350-tonne dredge.
TONY: Let's get it on.
The crew rushes to clear the dry dock before it's too late.
We've gotta get all the equipment outta there, the water level's coming up pretty fast here.
That'll be the moment of truth - if this thing floats or if it sinks.
I'm excited.
We worked hard enough on this thing, it'd be nice to see some gold in the box this afternoon.
Pretty much done.
The next morning, Tony returns.
The first Klondike dredge to float, in over a quarter of a century.
Sounds like a plan.
Yeah, good.
Yep.
Kevin will use the winch on the D6 dozer to pull the dredge into position.
Tony heads up to the wheelhouse to take the helm, ready to dig the dredge's first pay dirt.
Ready when you are.
(ALMIGHTY BANG) What's wrong? What's wrong? I don't know.
It was going smoothly and the whole thing (BLEEP) shook.
What are you looking for? What just happened? Better get some pumps up there quick.
If Tony doesn't drain the flooded pontoon, the dredge will sink.
(PUMP REVS INTO LIFE) We're gonna have to get inside there when it's dry.
That's gonna suck.
Yep.
Tony has no choice.
He has to drain the pond to fix the leak.
With winter closing in, his hopes of dredging this season are sinking fast.
East at Scribner Creek.
Big Red is shut down for the season.
Parker's crew is preparing their equipment for the winter.
Been a good season, it's time to pack up and go home.
Be smart.
If we don't, we're gonna get stuck in here and it's not gonna be cool.
Just trying to get the things, get ready to put them to bed here.
We need to put it away right and go home.
Parker heads out to scout a new claim that could mean freedom from Tony.
Tony doesn't have to negotiate with me, because he knows I haven't got any other ground.
I need to try and find some other ground, to either buy or use it to bring Tony back to the table.
Parker's already been offered new ground in the Klondike goldfields just beyond Tony's dredge camp.
I mean, this ground is one of the options for next year.
It's the upper forks of Eureka - over 100 claims and all for sale.
Price tag's two million bucks.
You know, one thing I always look at when I'm looking at ground is the condition of the place.
And if you've got tons of money, you're probably not gonna live in a place like that.
Wait, it's like there's a line of drill holes down there.
Be right back.
A long line of drill holes suggests there's still a substantial amount of gold in the ground.
Ah.
I wonder why the (BLEEP) didn't tell me about these.
The promising thing is there's a lot of drill holes in here.
They spent money.
He didn't wave anything like this under my face when he showed me the first time.
We need ground and this could be it.
Parker heads back to Scribner to weigh up his options.
This season he's mined almost two and a half million dollars in gold .
.
but he's also had massive running costs.
I can't afford two million bucks.
The overhead's insane, plus Tony's stupid royalty.
But I'm not gonna end my season crawling back to Tony.
At the end of the day you just have to fight for what you want.
We've gotta make money to buy ground.
If we do another 400 ounces or so, I can make a good down payment on this place.
The guys are not gonna like it, but we have more gold to find.
.
.
At Eureka Creek, while he waits for the pond to drain, Tony gives the dredge a Viking baptism to change its luck.
(LAUGHS) At McKinnon Creek, the Hoffman Crew is back mining.
They're making one last push for 1,300 ounces, the amount Peter Tallman set in order for them to keep their ground next year.
Their last hope is a small section of the haul road between two old cuts.
We have got a limited amount of time, so we're not gonna stop 'til we get this dirt out and get it ran through the wash plant.
It's just, is it enough? We won't know that until we get it ran through the sluice.
Dude, Kevin.
It's weird, man, but we've been driving on this crap all summer long.
This pay looks good, man, but you gotta keep it coming.
I gotta keep this plant running.
The crew keeps up the pace through the night and over the next two days.
Running dirt in an all-out effort to hit their new goal.
Todd to Kevin.
Todd to Kevin.
Go ahead.
Listen, run it real slow.
I wanna get every bit of gold out of this stuff.
Roger that.
I'm nervous as hell because I don't wanna go back, I don't wanna go back to the life I had.
I want a goldmine, I mean, this is every man's dream.
Eventually Andy hits permafrost in the new cut.
That's it.
The haul road cut is done.
We have no more dirt.
With no pay dirt to run it's left to Thurber to clean up the concentrate from the sluice box.
Phew! We got some gold there.
The Hoffmans have already mined 1,035 ounces.
Worth over $1.
2 million But they need a total of 1,300 ounces to keep their claim next season.
This last clean-up has to be the best of their lives.
How's it looking? Well, I'm weighing it up now.
There's 16, 17 ounces.
What? Holy! There you go.
217.
Our best clean-up ever.
217 ounces, over a quarter of a million dollars in a single clean-up.
1,252.
We pulled up short, Dad.
Yeah.
But it's not enough to secure the claim.
We're 48 short.
And you got everything out of there, right? We pulled everything.
We pulled out our road; there's nothing left.
I got nothing.
I don't know how or where we're gonna do it but we're gonna get that last piece of gold out of the ground and we are not gonna fail.
Not this time, guys.
At Scribner Creek .
.
the crew is already packed up and ready to head home, but Parker calls a meeting.
I've got some bad news for you.
We're not done mining.
We need to keep working, we need to stay and find some more gold.
Is there an issue with that? I don't want to (BLEEP) around and work until it just doesn't make any sense anymore.
We had a pretty (BLEEP) successful season though, didn't we? We did.
I know we hit our goal, we've got 2,000 ounces of gold.
And that's great, but the truth is we need 400 more.
We've gotta make money to buy ground.
I understand you wanna get as much gold as you can get.
I understand that but everybody's wore out.
We've wiped your ass for 2,000 ounces all season, now we're empty.
It's been (BLEEP), Parker, you're gone.
Yeah, I'm not here, Gene, because I'm running all over the place trying to figure out how to have a business when Tony Beets says, "(BLEEP) you.
Get the (BLEEP) off my ground.
" I understand that.
It doesn't seem like it cos I don't understand (BLEEP).
You're not understanding.
I think our backs have been broken.
Like you said, Remsburg, you have busted your guys' ass, and I know that you guys all wanna leave.
I didn't realise that it was this deeply rooted and if that's the case then I don't want you guys here if you don't wanna be here.
So come to me, I'll share you out and you can leave.
I didn't realise it was this bad.
How did that go? I probably didn't hit him hard enough, honestly.
There's a lot of (BLEEP) should have been said that shouldn't be on camera.
The season ain't over, the job ain't over.
I can't do it on my own, that's the only problem.
I need those guys.
Next time, on the season finale of Gold Rush, all three mining crews battle until the bitter end.
Parker Schnabel fights for his freedom.
I could show up in spring and be mining my own ground.
My own empire of dirt.
Todd Hoffman does everything he can to secure his future.
I want this land so bad.
It feels like home and I don't wanna lose it.
And Tony Beets Get out of the way! .
.
looks to make mining history.
Hey, look at that!
.
.
Parker's 2,000-ounce season gold is within reach.
The gold's in the ground, we just need to get it through the plant before we're froze outta here.
But as winter hits, his crew mounts a rebellion.
Everyone's wore out.
I don't know what the (BLEEP) going on! Our backs have been broken.
And when the big freeze wreaks havoc Stop the plant! .
.
his season comes to an abrupt end.
I don't think it's worth fighting, let's hope we got our 160 ounces in the box.
For the Hoffman crew We gotta get 1,000 ounces.
Period.
That's just the way it is.
.
.
despite finding good gold Woo! (CHEERING) .
.
they fail to impress their claim owner.
Will you stick with us? No.
And for Tony Beets, after six months of back-breaking work It's all hooked up.
Good.
.
.
when his big moment arrives It's time to let the water in.
.
.
it turns into a shipwreck.
Get outta the way, this is serious.
How do you like that? Scribner Creek, the Klondike.
As the mining season draws to a close, Parker Schnabel and his crew confront an old enemy - the Yukon winter.
Been a fun morning.
Shut down about 7 o'clock this morning when we do a shift change, so we were down for about an hour.
In that hour's time, the plant froze solid.
There's so much ice on the valves, we can't open or close 'em.
We've had to bust the ice off.
Come on, girl, shake it off.
I think the Yukon's saying it's time to shut down.
Parker is just 160 ounces short of his 2,000 ounce, $2.
4 million gold, but time is running out.
We've got a good amount of gold to find, and we need to get it through the plant before we're froze outta here.
Parker's crew is running main pay from the Berm Island, and it's the best dirt they've run all season, and puts them within striking distance of their goal.
But after a gruelling six month mining season, Parker's men are burned out and ready to head south.
We're tired.
We're exhausted.
Pretty ready to go home.
And it's just like, really? We're (BLEEP) still here doing this.
Open the gates of Guantanamo Bay, Yukon territory, Let us out.
What the (BLEEP)?! At the plant, the freezing temperatures have had a devastating effect on Parker's water system.
Great.
This damn thing's frozen too, it won't budge.
Hey! Chris! I mean, the valve just cracked open and it's spraying water all over the place.
Gonna have to shut her down.
Not the best day of the season, that's for sure.
I don't think it's worth fighting.
We need to call it.
That's it, huh? Yeah.
All right.
Let's see what we've got.
I figured this day might come but I really didn't expect it.
Hey, Rick.
Yeah, go ahead.
Man, the wash plant is screwed, I'm calling it.
Holy (BLEEP), really? Yeah, let's hope we got 160 ounces in the box and we're done.
You guys hear him? We're outta here, Greg.
OK, give me some.
We really need this to hit our 2,000 mark now.
For sure.
Think it's in here? Certainly hope so.
Wow! I mean, that's looking darned good right there.
Whoa! It looks good.
Looks real good.
Yeah.
No kidding.
(BLEEP) There's some nice gold in this clean out.
I don't know if it's good enough, but it looks pretty good.
A lot of good size pickers in here.
Look at that, there's probably 50 more in there just like that, plus who knows what the fine gold looks like.
Be nice to get over 2,000, you know, to succeed our goal.
Let's finish good, finish right.
Finish, get ready to go home.
Have a lot of confidence, a lot of hope in this clean up right here.
All right, so this is like the last supper, huh? We pack her up tomorrow? (LAUGHTER) There's gotta be a reason for a party.
Who needs a beer? To hit his 2,000-ounce goal, Parker needs another 160 ounces.
So this clean-out .
.
that only brought us to 1,940.
A hundred ounces? Plus Uh oh, here it comes.
Holy Moses! Ho! Which brings us to 2,060.
Bam! (LAUGHS) Yeah, 2,000 ounces, buddy.
All the way across the table, buddy.
The 220-ounce clean-up brings their gold total to 2,060 ounces, worth $2.
47 million.
Parker's crew has smashed their goal, with more than twice the gold they got last season.
Then why did you call? (LAUGHTER) Truth is, you guys have done a hell of a job, you know, and I'd like to thank you all for that.
I do know that you guys have put in a hell of a long season, but we've got a little bit of work to do, a little reclamation and some clean-up work.
Let's get back to our families.
Here's to you guys.
Good job, you know.
Good job.
I know we got good ground; that main pay was good, but you guys did it.
West .
.
at McKinnon Creek, the Hoffmans are poised to redeem themselves.
Got 936 ounces.
Come hell or high water, we're gonna get 1,000.
They are just 64 ounces short of their thousand ounce gold.
But the only thawed pay dirt Andy has left is the access ramp into the higher cut.
This is the last of our pay dirt in our higher cut, so hopefully this dirt's got in it what we need to get to 1,000.
It's been a long season, but we're getting close.
There's gold in that there sluice box.
That's it, Kev, you're done.
Take it to the plant.
Roger that.
Todd, this is Andy, do you copy? Yeah, I got a copy.
Hey, Todd, we just loaded the last little bit of pay dirt out of the higher cut.
That's it, we're done.
Are you sure you got every nook and cranny out of there, huh? We've scraped everything that's in that cut to scrape.
There's no more pay dirt in that; we've scraped every frozen piece we could find everywhere.
It's done.
Ah, 10-4.
10-4.
Dude, we're knocking at the door of 1,000 ounces, and we need it.
For us to come back next year, we gotta get 1,000 ounces.
Period.
That's just the way it is.
Jack loads the last of the pay into the plant, and the Hoffman crew shuts down Monster Red for this season.
So this is our final mat pull.
You know what? Hopefully we got enough in here; it's gonna be touch and go.
They've mined over $1 million in gold this season, but their target is $1.
2 million.
I'm feeling nervous.
We've never been in reach like this, where this clean-up could do it.
Jack begins the final clean-up.
With another 64 ounces, the Hoffman crew will hit their goal for the first time ever.
I'll tell you what, after last season I didn't think anybody would wanna take another risk with me on this.
You guys did it.
We didn't give up on the gold mining dream.
I'm proud.
Proud to be part of this team, and you guys need to be proud of what we did.
Every one of you.
And guess what? If it's possible, we're gonna come back and we're gonna do it even better next year.
That's gotta be Peter.
The claim owner, Peter Tallman, arrives to collect his cut of the gold.
Hey, Todd.
How you doing, buddy? You guys knew that we got 936.
There it is.
Guys, we needed 64 ounces We got 99.
(CHEERING) Good job, guys.
Yes! The Hoffmans season total is 1,035 ounces, worth well over $1.
2 million.
Yeah! For the first time in five years, Todd and his crew have finally hit their goal.
They've pulled more gold out of the ground than all of their previous seasons combined.
Awesome.
Yeah! Peter, after last year not many guys would take a chance with us, and you did, and here you go, here's your cut; and we're thankful, we really are.
Yeah! Great, man.
Todd, that's not good enough.
It's not good enough by quite a way.
We had projections of you guys doing a substantial amount more than what you've done.
I'm really sorry.
This is a disappointment.
Good night, gentlemen.
.
.
McKinnon Creek.
The mining season is over; the Hoffman crew packs for the long journey home.
You know what? You never know when you start a season how it's gonna end but I never thought it would end like this.
Feels like we came up short.
But their leader refuses to call it quits.
At this point in time I'm in limbo, and I don't know really where I stand now with Peter.
He has the ability, if he doesn't believe in us, to kick us off, and I don't want that.
Todd confronts Peter Tallman at his office in Dawson City.
Peter.
Hey, Todd.
We need to talk.
What happened the other night? I was just disappointed and I had to walk away.
Pretty much anybody could come in here with the production equipment and crew you've built and get 1,000 ounces, but you have to achieve much more gold.
I just feel like we deserve another chance; another shot at this next year.
Will you stick with us? No, probably not.
It's poor business.
Beyond your claim, we have two separate known pay streaks that have potentially multi-millions of dollars of gold contained; my job is to find somebody who can produce gold from that, and I just couldn't offer it to you at 1,000 ounces.
It's just not enough.
Take into consideration how hard my guys have worked at this, and how much heart and soul we put into this thing.
What's it gonna take to keep our claim? Prove that you can get the gold and put it in a box.
Go get me 300 ounces.
Oh.
You know, if you'd have said 25 or 50 I would have said, "Maybe we could do that.
" 100 would be a stretch.
We don't have any pay dirt left.
That amount is not negotiable.
If we get that gold, I want this whole thing cos what I'm gonna have to do to get that gold is damn near impossible.
But I want the whole thing.
If you can get 300 ounces more, 1,300 in total, you got a deal.
Another 300 ounces, worth $360,000, would require the Hoffmans to mine over a third more gold.
Everything's freezing up, we're out of pay dirt, we're out of time, so to be honest with you, you know, what he wants it's close to impossible, but we gotta get 300 more ounces, and there's just no ifs ands or buts about it.
That's it.
Back at McKinnon Creek, Todd's crew is preparing to hit the road.
Guys.
What's up? Here's the deal.
Peter wants 300 more ounces.
If we don't make it, I don't think we'll be back mining again.
Let's be real, there's nothing left.
It took us better than four months to get 1,000 ounces, and now you want us to pull a third of that? Hear me out.
For 300 more ounces, we could get the rest of these claims, all their placer claims, which is six more miles of ground.
That's the future, guys.
There's three or four hotspots there, it's rich.
And I don't know if it's possible, and I wouldn't blame you guys if you packed your stuff now and left, but if there's a chance to get six more miles of ground, and it's good ground with good gold, I think we'll kick ourselves if we don't step up to the plate.
Guys, we got a future here if we can pull this off.
I think we ought to try it.
If we don't make it, I'm still proud of everybody.
We know what our future will be if we don't try.
We won't be back; so what have we got to lose? I mean, if we're gonna do this, we need to get after it like right now.
If the Hoffman crew can't find thawed pay dirt, their days mining the Klondike could be over.
I don't know if I'm gonna be able to get the gold, but if we don't make our goals it won't be because we didn't do everything possible.
North, at Paradise Hill .
.
Parker arrives to give Tony his final cut of the season.
Yeah, it just feels good to hit our goal, you know.
Hopefully Tony is as impressed as I am.
Hey, Tony, how are you doing? Yeah.
I'm about to show you.
210, 220.
Point four five.
2,060.
It's double what we did last year.
At the beginning of the season, Tony locked Parker into a one-sided deal - the more gold Parker mines, the higher the percentage that Tony gets.
That'ser44.
1.
I need a better royalty deal.
I can't afford to pay 25, 30% royalty.
Yeah, but I should get rewarded for doing better.
The royalty that I've paid you, with this included, is over $400,000.
The more gold I find, the more you take? That's insane.
OK.
If we can't meet somewhere in the middle then I'll have to look somewhere else.
I understand that, I'm not trying to push the issue.
With him on that ground, my wings are pretty well clipped.
Right? Not much you can do.
Can't argue with a closed door.
.
.
At McKinnon Creek .
.
the Hoffman crew return to their mined out cuts in a desperate hunt for any leftover pay that may have thawed.
We wanna be back here, we have to do it.
This is good ground and I'm gonna find some pay.
They've hit their 1,000 ounce goal, but if they're to hold onto their claim for next season the crew must now find another 300 ounces.
Desperate times, desperate measures.
It's our future we're dealing with so maybe I can get a little bit more out of some of these corners.
Kevin tests the ground in the old cut next to the wash plant.
But it's solid bedrock.
Kevin, tell me you got something good.
Todd, I wish I could say send me a rock truck, but I've got no pay and I'm getting nothing.
All right, keep trying.
Hey, Todd, you have a copy? Yeah, I got a copy.
I'm up here in the higher cut.
I've scratched all these corners; everything is frozen as hard as a rock.
There's no gold in here.
Not good.
Hey, Dad, what are you finding? Anything? No, it doesn't look good, Todd.
It's all frozen.
This doesn't look good at all.
McKinnon Creek is frozen.
Getting anything? Nothing.
There's something we haven't thought about.
We're standing on it.
The haul road? Right here.
We hit a pocket that was the best pocket I've seen gold mining - we had 132 ounces out of this, Todd.
I think the gold is right under our feet.
I don't know, Dave.
That was the worst clean-up we ever had there.
We don't have anything to lose here.
Let's do this.
All right.
Dig some test holes.
All right.
The whole road runs between two of their old cuts.
They mined the south side, and it was full of gold .
.
but on the other side of the road, the returns were poor.
Dave is hoping the south side pay channel extends under the haul road.
If he's right, they'll have an accessible strip of thawed pay dirt.
With no time to spare, Dave and Andy roll out to test Dave's theory.
So here's what I'm thinking, if you canerdig up the road, cast it to one side, and then I will push it out of your way.
I think that's our best chance of getting this done.
10-4, Dave, I'll sling it to you; you push it out of the way.
Let's get this done.
If the gold from the haul road cut is underneath this road, I think we got a good shot at it.
We can see snow off in the hills, so we don't have a lot of time.
So we need to get this done as quick as we can.
You know, hopefully it'll be good under here, but we won't know until we get the overburden off.
Yeah, right here is everything we've got.
Every gold miner is always looking for the next season or the next clean-up or the next bucketful.
It can always be there; that's gold mining.
It can always be a big payoff, and that's what we're hoping for underneath this road.
So I'm looking to see some big black rocks at the bottom of this.
I'm looking to see this deep pocket in the bedrock and a lot of gold in a pan.
That's what I'm hoping for.
We don't have a Plan B at this point.
It's all or nothing.
With the overburden cleared away, Andy digs a test hole OK, that's it.
Right at bedrock I got the big rocks.
It looks good, let me go grab a pan.
OK.
What are you guys seeing? This one pan could determine whether the Hoffmans return next season.
This could be a good pan.
You're freakin' kidding me.
I think we're on it.
Dave's plan pays off.
Look at that! We might just pull this off.
There's good gold under the haul road.
This is awesome.
I don't know if we'll hit 300 ounces, but we're definitely gonna put a dent in it with this.
Let's start running pay.
Let's get rolling.
Let's go.
Let's get a couple rock trucks down here and we're gonna take out the haul road.
I think we're right on top of where that channel was.
We got a bit of a break.
We're gonna have good pay dirt.
We're gonna do everything humanly possible to make it.
We need to make it.
East .
.
at Eureka Creek.
It's all hooked up.
Tony Beets has finally rebuilt his million dollar dredge.
After six months of back-breaking work, he's ready to breathe life into his 75-year-old gold factory.
Suction's in.
We got it hooked up, now we just gotta chain it down and we're good to go.
There's one final step before Tony can complete this epic resurrection.
The dredge sits on a dry dock beside a small pond.
When Tony opens the flood gate from a larger holding pond, he'll release a torrent of water to float the 350-tonne dredge.
TONY: Let's get it on.
The crew rushes to clear the dry dock before it's too late.
We've gotta get all the equipment outta there, the water level's coming up pretty fast here.
That'll be the moment of truth - if this thing floats or if it sinks.
I'm excited.
We worked hard enough on this thing, it'd be nice to see some gold in the box this afternoon.
Pretty much done.
The next morning, Tony returns.
The first Klondike dredge to float, in over a quarter of a century.
Sounds like a plan.
Yeah, good.
Yep.
Kevin will use the winch on the D6 dozer to pull the dredge into position.
Tony heads up to the wheelhouse to take the helm, ready to dig the dredge's first pay dirt.
Ready when you are.
(ALMIGHTY BANG) What's wrong? What's wrong? I don't know.
It was going smoothly and the whole thing (BLEEP) shook.
What are you looking for? What just happened? Better get some pumps up there quick.
If Tony doesn't drain the flooded pontoon, the dredge will sink.
(PUMP REVS INTO LIFE) We're gonna have to get inside there when it's dry.
That's gonna suck.
Yep.
Tony has no choice.
He has to drain the pond to fix the leak.
With winter closing in, his hopes of dredging this season are sinking fast.
East at Scribner Creek.
Big Red is shut down for the season.
Parker's crew is preparing their equipment for the winter.
Been a good season, it's time to pack up and go home.
Be smart.
If we don't, we're gonna get stuck in here and it's not gonna be cool.
Just trying to get the things, get ready to put them to bed here.
We need to put it away right and go home.
Parker heads out to scout a new claim that could mean freedom from Tony.
Tony doesn't have to negotiate with me, because he knows I haven't got any other ground.
I need to try and find some other ground, to either buy or use it to bring Tony back to the table.
Parker's already been offered new ground in the Klondike goldfields just beyond Tony's dredge camp.
I mean, this ground is one of the options for next year.
It's the upper forks of Eureka - over 100 claims and all for sale.
Price tag's two million bucks.
You know, one thing I always look at when I'm looking at ground is the condition of the place.
And if you've got tons of money, you're probably not gonna live in a place like that.
Wait, it's like there's a line of drill holes down there.
Be right back.
A long line of drill holes suggests there's still a substantial amount of gold in the ground.
Ah.
I wonder why the (BLEEP) didn't tell me about these.
The promising thing is there's a lot of drill holes in here.
They spent money.
He didn't wave anything like this under my face when he showed me the first time.
We need ground and this could be it.
Parker heads back to Scribner to weigh up his options.
This season he's mined almost two and a half million dollars in gold .
.
but he's also had massive running costs.
I can't afford two million bucks.
The overhead's insane, plus Tony's stupid royalty.
But I'm not gonna end my season crawling back to Tony.
At the end of the day you just have to fight for what you want.
We've gotta make money to buy ground.
If we do another 400 ounces or so, I can make a good down payment on this place.
The guys are not gonna like it, but we have more gold to find.
.
.
At Eureka Creek, while he waits for the pond to drain, Tony gives the dredge a Viking baptism to change its luck.
(LAUGHS) At McKinnon Creek, the Hoffman Crew is back mining.
They're making one last push for 1,300 ounces, the amount Peter Tallman set in order for them to keep their ground next year.
Their last hope is a small section of the haul road between two old cuts.
We have got a limited amount of time, so we're not gonna stop 'til we get this dirt out and get it ran through the wash plant.
It's just, is it enough? We won't know that until we get it ran through the sluice.
Dude, Kevin.
It's weird, man, but we've been driving on this crap all summer long.
This pay looks good, man, but you gotta keep it coming.
I gotta keep this plant running.
The crew keeps up the pace through the night and over the next two days.
Running dirt in an all-out effort to hit their new goal.
Todd to Kevin.
Todd to Kevin.
Go ahead.
Listen, run it real slow.
I wanna get every bit of gold out of this stuff.
Roger that.
I'm nervous as hell because I don't wanna go back, I don't wanna go back to the life I had.
I want a goldmine, I mean, this is every man's dream.
Eventually Andy hits permafrost in the new cut.
That's it.
The haul road cut is done.
We have no more dirt.
With no pay dirt to run it's left to Thurber to clean up the concentrate from the sluice box.
Phew! We got some gold there.
The Hoffmans have already mined 1,035 ounces.
Worth over $1.
2 million But they need a total of 1,300 ounces to keep their claim next season.
This last clean-up has to be the best of their lives.
How's it looking? Well, I'm weighing it up now.
There's 16, 17 ounces.
What? Holy! There you go.
217.
Our best clean-up ever.
217 ounces, over a quarter of a million dollars in a single clean-up.
1,252.
We pulled up short, Dad.
Yeah.
But it's not enough to secure the claim.
We're 48 short.
And you got everything out of there, right? We pulled everything.
We pulled out our road; there's nothing left.
I got nothing.
I don't know how or where we're gonna do it but we're gonna get that last piece of gold out of the ground and we are not gonna fail.
Not this time, guys.
At Scribner Creek .
.
the crew is already packed up and ready to head home, but Parker calls a meeting.
I've got some bad news for you.
We're not done mining.
We need to keep working, we need to stay and find some more gold.
Is there an issue with that? I don't want to (BLEEP) around and work until it just doesn't make any sense anymore.
We had a pretty (BLEEP) successful season though, didn't we? We did.
I know we hit our goal, we've got 2,000 ounces of gold.
And that's great, but the truth is we need 400 more.
We've gotta make money to buy ground.
I understand you wanna get as much gold as you can get.
I understand that but everybody's wore out.
We've wiped your ass for 2,000 ounces all season, now we're empty.
It's been (BLEEP), Parker, you're gone.
Yeah, I'm not here, Gene, because I'm running all over the place trying to figure out how to have a business when Tony Beets says, "(BLEEP) you.
Get the (BLEEP) off my ground.
" I understand that.
It doesn't seem like it cos I don't understand (BLEEP).
You're not understanding.
I think our backs have been broken.
Like you said, Remsburg, you have busted your guys' ass, and I know that you guys all wanna leave.
I didn't realise that it was this deeply rooted and if that's the case then I don't want you guys here if you don't wanna be here.
So come to me, I'll share you out and you can leave.
I didn't realise it was this bad.
How did that go? I probably didn't hit him hard enough, honestly.
There's a lot of (BLEEP) should have been said that shouldn't be on camera.
The season ain't over, the job ain't over.
I can't do it on my own, that's the only problem.
I need those guys.
Next time, on the season finale of Gold Rush, all three mining crews battle until the bitter end.
Parker Schnabel fights for his freedom.
I could show up in spring and be mining my own ground.
My own empire of dirt.
Todd Hoffman does everything he can to secure his future.
I want this land so bad.
It feels like home and I don't wanna lose it.
And Tony Beets Get out of the way! .
.
looks to make mining history.
Hey, look at that!