Hoffman Family Gold (2022) s02e02 Episode Script

1
Yee-haw!
The Hoffman
family is back.
- Oh!
- How you doing?
And they're on the gold.
It has the potential
to really make
a lot of money.
This season,
they got the machines
It's almost like going to war
and this is your tank.
to get the job done.
Holy crap!
Popping nuggets
left and right.
But when Hunter
takes his family's future
into his own hands
I'm basically asking you if
I can run my own wash plant.
That caught me by surprise
how much he doesn't wanna
work with me.
Can he deliver the goods
to keep the Hoffmans afloat?
Go big or go home, you know?
I think these guys
might be a little bit
out of their league.
Or will it be
a huge distraction
that threatens to bring
down their whole operation?
How about when you guys
say you're gonna have
a 650 over here,
don't do the opposite of that?
Knock it off. Be quiet.
Let us handle this piece.
I think we're gonna have
to take over this
little operation.
The are
we doing? Honestly,
this is embarrassing.
Start throwing
in the back
and start grabbing scraps.
Those valves,
throw everything back to quad.
Lay flat.
Everything.
Right now, we're at this point
where we need to run.
We're getting everything
out of the way,
going through our checklist
in our mind.
That's Dakota up in
the hopper. He's working
on the Sway Bars.
Sluice box is all set.
We'll probably check
that one more time.
Hydraulic riffles are being
built right now.
Electrical, Randy's on that.
So good. It's all good.
Last minute wiring here
in the, uh, in the panel.
This is all ready to go.
Generator running and
let's get this baby turning.
Todd's got a lot of money
wrapped up in this.
Build is starting to stack up.
He needs to get some
gold in his pocket.
Right now,
we're running on fumes.
What's going on, man?
- You got a minute?
- Yeah, sure. What now?
So,
basically, Hunter wants
to go out on his own.
- He wants to run
his own plant.
- Yeah.
He wants me to fund it,
give him a go-ahead
and a blessing on it.
Yeah.
And it caught me by surprise
how much he doesn't wanna
work with me.
You know, it's like everything
I do is wrong right now
and it's like
Todd, if you could
financially swing that,
I think it's gonna be good
for your relationship
and his, too.
I am way out on a limb.
So, it's just scary.
The whole thing's very scary.
You could lose
your livelihood.
You'd lose a lot of money.
But what I don't wanna do is,
I don't wanna lose my family.
If we had two plants going,
we have a better chance
at hitting our gold.
But if this turned out to be
a very bad experience for him,
it's not gonna really help
Hunter in any way, shape
or form.
You know, being a father
is tough 'cause you wanna
protect your boys
from the world
and even themselves, but
you know,
if you hold them back,
you know, later, they're gonna
resent you for it.
You know, you can't keep
taking care of me.
You let him do it?
Part of me says no, but,
but most of me says yeah.
He's gonna sink or swim
with this
opportunity.
It's up to him.
All right.
- Thanks, Dad.
- Yep.
All right.
So, I got something
to talk to you about
and it affects everybody.
Hunter came to me
and he said he wanted
to run his own plant.
Oh, geez!
That's you What?
Yeah.
Wow!
Hunter, I wanted
to give you the floor
for a couple seconds
and to just tell them
what you're feeling.
Well, this is like
our family business.
I'm your oldest son.
Like, I've been doing
this since I was
ten years old.
You know,
this is my tenth season.
So, I've always wanted
to run my own plant
and for me, I'm just like,
I wanna be able to have
a little bit of say and also,
you know, I feel like,
it's like grandpa always says,
no guts, no glory.
From what I know about
gold mining, growing up
and uh,
watching other gold miners
and watching, you know,
what we've done, I think
we need a second plant.
None of us can afford to go
home with a loss and I think
we're behind schedule.
Bottom line, it's gonna take
two wash plants to get
a 1,000 ounces.
We have the best machines.
We have the best crew.
We're on a good mine.
Why not run two plants?
I'd rather have more
fire power than not enough.
So
You know, I think
you're right. I, you know,
no guts, no glory, you know,
really.
For us to attain our goal
with one machine,
it isn't gonna work.
Hunter,
the Holy Roller, though,
has gotta come first.
That is our business plan.
It's gotta come first.
I get it. Like
Do we have enough
equipment you think?
Logistically, it's gonna
be super tough.
Everything's gonna
be a stretch.
Everything's gonna
be a stretch.
So, it's a big gamble.
It's a huge, huge risk.
- It's not going to be easy.
- No.
I know we're spread thin,
but my mind's already made up.
I'm already committed
to doing what it takes.
Okay. So, that's it.
We're gonna take a risk
on this plant,
and if it becomes where
it's, kinda, hurting us,
then, I will pull the plug.
Hunter, can you agree to that?
I will commit to that deal.
All right.
Go to town and try to
find yourself a plant.
Okay.
I wouldn't be here if we
hadn't divided and tried
to start our own thing, too.
I'm really appreciative.
This entire thing is a gamble
and my dad's sticking
his neck out.
All right, guys. Let's go.
So, I hope that,
just for everybody's sake,
that we succeed.
So, right now,
I'm heading into Nome.
I'm gonna go meet with
this guy, Nate.
Everybody tells me if I need
to find something in town,
this is the guy to go to.
I'm gonna try to see,
you know, what he has
for a wash plant.
But I've been through Nome.
There's a lot of wash plants,
but there's not a lot of them
that are worth a damn.
So, we'll see what happens.
- Hunter, man. How are ya?
What's going on? Come on in.
- Hi.
- Grab a seat.
- Thank you.
- Dude, thank you for
meeting with me today.
- Yeah, no problem.
- So, what's going on?
- So
I convinced my dad to
- invest in me doing my own
operation this year.
- Okay.
He is giving me
the go-ahead to come here,
try to find a plant.
You got anything more
for me than just a plant?
'Cause I got
big, small, I got them all.
I know beggars can't be
choosers, isn't it?
I'm in Nome, where everybody
is looking for a wash plant.
- Right? So, I just,
whatever you have,
- Yep.
um, just show me and we'll
see if it's something we can
make work.
Good.
You know, it's a long shot,
but in a perfect world,
you know, Nate will have
a wash plant that can do
at least 300 yards an hour,
similar to The Holy Roller,
so we can double our results.
- That's it right there.
- Yep.
So, here she is!
This thing's great.
Yeah, it is.
- Dude
- You think this will do
what you need?
Uh, yeah.
This is what
I'm talking about.
- This thing is crazy-looking.
- Yep.
Looks like a pirate ship.
She's worn,
but she's still got
a lot of life left in her.
I got the parts you need
to make it run this season.
- Wow.
- Just gonna be a lot
of man hours.
While The Holy Roller
is enormous, weighing
close to 50,000 pounds,
this wash plant weighs
a staggering 80,000 pounds.
Jeez. Now, we're talking.
You know, like, how much
gold dig out this thing?
Man, they were in this trommel
for six years before
we bought this place
and she worked well.
She's probably seen
30,000 ounces or more.
This plant's got
30,000 ounces?
At least. At minimum.
- How long has it been
sitting here?
- 2016.
So, she's been sitting
here just gathering
rust for a while.
- Damn. You know anything
about the motor on it?
- Yeah.
- It sat with no,
no protection for years so,
- Yeah.
fifty-fifty shot
she's locked up.
I mean,
this entire thing
is a huge gamble.
This plant needs a lot
of work, but right now,
this is the only plant in Nome
that can even handle
the kinda yard during
the run, so
I'm gonna have to go for it.
- This is the plant
I need, so
- I think so.
I just don't want you to bite
off more than you can chew.
It's gonna take a lot
to move it.
The fully assembled
wash plant is 50 feet long,
18 feet tall and 18 feet wide.
Too large to make it across
the bridge in one piece.
So, Hunter will have to cut
the plant into three pieces,
the base, the trommel
and the hopper.
By separating each section,
they estimate this will afford
the largest section,
just inches of clearance
as it enters the bridge.
I think it's gonna take
at least four trucks to get
everything out there.
No guts, no glory.
- Good.
- This is exactly what I was
looking for, so,
- I'm ready to go.
- We'll see if we can
put a deal together.
- That's good.
- Okay.
It's gonna take
a lot to get this thing
up and running
the way we need it to,
but I feel like God's on
my side right now.
Finding a plant
that is this size
is beyond what I thought
I was gonna be able
to pull off.
- You know, fire the pump.
- Yep.
And if all looks good,
no major changes couple
days of running.
Dialing everything
in best we can
while we first clean up.
First off, though,
we gotta run.
Today, we're finally gonna get
The Holy Roller up and running
and we wanna get this ancient
river dirt through this
and hopefully, at a really,
really decent pace.
I'm excited. We've been
waiting for years to,
to try to run this plant
and this kinda paydirt.
Okay. Let's warm up
the generator.
Andy, get ready
on the excavator.
What could go wrong?
Everybody, clear?
Go for it.
Okay, here we go.
After days
of preparation,
the Holy Roller
and the systems
that support it
are ready to churn out gold.
The ancient riverbed's
paydirt is piled.
The generators
are full speed ahead.
- it's like that kid's
first day at school.
- Good to go.
Bring the water. Bring it up.
And the water
is flowing.
How much are you at?
- 875.
They've gone off.
Give me 1,100.
What I wanna see
is 20 fire hoses
beating that frickin'
paydirt off.
The high water pressure
ensures that their paydirt
will break down properly
and allow the sluice
to trap gold.
Let's go to 1,400.
- Fourteen-hundred.
- 1,400.
1 4 0 0.
Thurber, how's the sluice?
Sluice is looking good.
I like the water.
Andy, push off
the paydirt in, boy.
Push off dirt.
Getting this thing
up and running is huge
for everyone.
But we're a long way from
right now and right here,
where we're starting
to getting to a 1,000 ounces.
We did it.
Keep it running.
Good job, everybody.
Whoo!
I've never been
this nervous about loading
a wash plant before.
First time loading
my own plant.
Everything about this
wash plant is a huge risk.
Biggest trommel I've ever seen
and we literally have to
cut the entire thing into
pieces just to get it
through the bridge to
get it out to the mine.
I've never seen
something like this done,
so we're taking our time
cutting carefully
to make sure that
we can actually get this thing
put back together once we get
it out there.
At some point,
we're gonna have to cross
that bridge and if it doesn't
fit, then we're screwed, so
I mean, this is it, dude.
We got the drum loaded.
That was uh,
kinda my main concern.
We're gonna rig the hopper
there, get that on,
get the motor on.
- Don't get under it, Cub.
- Okay.
Rest the frame
and then,
that's all the pieces.
It's more stressful
when it's your own plant,
especially, when you don't
have any replacement parts
or anything like that.
I've never seen my brother
this focused and determined.
I think it's good
right there, yeah.
Yeah, if he believes it,
I believe it.
There she goes. Wow!
I'm praying to God it gets
there in one piece.
I hope everything fits
through the bridge.
Odds are kinda against us,
but I feel good, dude.
Good work.
Thousand ounces or nothing.
Hey, Tater. Tell me,
tell me about material.
On the Holy Roller,
we've redesigned the sluice.
We got new types
of sluice boxes.
We have hydraulic nugget traps
because I watched last year,
us shoot gold right off into
the box.
Mining paydirt that
is heavy with clay is not
an easy task.
The clay tends to block
up the riffles,
causing gold to flow
over them and then,
out of the sluice box.
Hydraulic riffles,
or hydraulic nugget traps,
solve this problem with
a series of half pipes
injected with a steady
five pounds of water pressure.
This process keeps
the paydirt loose
and allows the gold to sink
to the bottom of the traps
before it even hits
the sluice box.
This thing is dang
near brand-new.
With the right team, equipment
and everything, we work hard,
we should come out of here
with enough gold to make
it worth it.
Guys, this is kind
of our one shot.
But I have faith in us.
Same here, brother.
We just gotta keep,
keep pressing on.
With The Holy Roller
running, but no results yet,
Hunter's new wash plant could
be the extra firepower
the Hoffmans need.
to meet their season goal
of 1,000 ounces.
Think these guys might
be a little bit out of
their league.
- These dudes are dorks.
- Complete dorks.
I think they think that
we don't know that
they're there.
Yeah.
You think they can
tackle this thing?
Here they come.
That thing is huge.
That is a convoy.
I've never seen
nothing like this.
What are you calling
this thing?
You know, when I first saw it,
I thought it looked like
an old, like a pirate ship.
I was like, dude,
we should call this thing
the Black Pearl.
I believe in the Black Pearl.
Let's sail that baby to
- a land of treasure.
- I love that.
- Go big or go home,
you know?
- 100 percent.
I think everything
should fit, but
we'll see. Hopefully, uh,
this doesn't
fall off the truck.
My concern is just this frame.
It's barely gonna make
it through the bridge.
It's not a lot of room
for error,
so, we'll just go slowly
and we'll just kinda
keep an eye on it.
I looked it over here.
How you guys looking?
So far, so good.
- How's that looking?
- They got like,
eight inches back in.
Yeah, this, I got
two, three feet on my side.
I'm really nervous
for him right now.
My side's got
three feet.
We got like, two feet.
Hey, you're about five inches
off the uh, outside edge
over your
Wow! That thing
is frickin' huge.
That is by far the biggest
wash plant
that we've ever had
fooled with around.
So far, so good.
I like it.
I feel a lot better.
Three more to go.
How're we looking over there?
- Yeah, we got like,
three feet inside. See?
- Yeah. Okay.
Let's think this up.
20 to 25 feet of trommel.
It's got a lot of time
to get beat up.
Isn't going
too bad, actually.
Look at the size
of the hopper.
There she goes.
Once we get this piece across,
then, uh,
I'll be feeling a little
bit more confident.
Is he in the clearance?
- Yeah, we're good.
- That's, that's clear.
We're in the money.
This is the last
piece of the Black Pearl
right here.
Money.
We cut everything perfectly.
We measured everything
and everything went
how we wanted it to go.
We're gonna keep pushing
on to the mine and then,
get some excavators
to offload all this stuff,
drag it in and then,
put it back together.
It's easy to take
things apart.
It's not easy to put
it back together.
They got their work
cut out for 'em.
I'm over here
checking the sluice runs,
make sure the dirt
isn't packing up.
I think everything's
working great.
We will win it.
I'm excited.
After days
of fine-tuning,
The Holy Roller
is running paydirt.
Hey, Thurbs.
This came out on my hand
out of the riffles.
That was stuck to my finger.
is that gold?
Yeah, first piece
of gold, dude.
And Tater has
stumbled into a small,
but significant clue
that it's doing the job
that it was designed to do.
I think your riffles work.
- First piece of gold.
On your hand
- Ah!
- It's your first
piece of gold.
- Look at that.
- The riffle's catching gold.
- The hydraulic riffles
are catching gold.
Let's run this,
let's run this little paydirt.
Man, I'm excited.
While Todd has
Andy in the 650
stacking pay from
the ancient river cut
Little right, little right.
Right. There ya go.
Come on back.
Hunter's wash plant
has arrived at the mine.
Get it all loaded,
get these guys rolling.
Out to make money.
That drum makes that
rock truck look small.
You know what comes
with big trommels?
Big problems.
Big gold, sometimes,
you know?
It's gonna be interesting,
that's for sure.
Oh, yeah.
Okay, what I'm thinking is,
me and Dakota will
get in excavator.
I'm gonna need the 650.
You guys chain and rig it
and once we get
it off of his truck,
we'll let him flip around,
get outta here,
have the next truck come in,
- do the same thing.
- Yeah.
In order to unload
the massive sections
of the Black Pearl,
Hunter needs their most
powerful excavator,
the 650.
It's superior lifting capacity
of nearly 70,000 pounds makes
it the right tool for the job.
But there's a problem.
The 650 is busy hauling
paydirt to The Holy Roller.
Hey, we need
the 650 over here.
You guys said you were
gonna bring the 650 over here.
Hunter doesn't
quite understand that
The Holy Roller comes first.
That is priority one
and the 650 is running pay
because this operation needs
gold and we need to get paid.
Exactly what I was
trying to avoid.
- What is that? 360, 490.
- We got 360 and the 490
right there.
I guess, they're giving
us those two.
So, me and Dakota
are gonna try to get these two
excavators in position here.
We're gonna both rig it
and try to lift it
at the same time.
Oh, we gotta get
these perfect or else,
this will be a freakout.
How are we doing this?
Grab that chain,
we're gonna grab that chain,
I'll grab that chain
over there.
Just going over the top?
- Yeah, we could
hook him up.
- Are you sure?
Yeah.
What's he doing
over there, man?
Hey, Hunter. Come on.
That's not how we do it.
Can't do it that way.
I don't really know what
the he wants.
Let's do it
the impossible way.
This is heavy
equipment that
we're dealing with here
and I'm responsible for it
and I don't want
anybody getting hurt.
Okay. Hold on.
I think we're gonna have
to take over this little
operation here.
This is the biggest thing
we've ever lifted, so
- This is
- Listen to me.
Knock it off. Be quiet.
Let us handle this piece.
You have that block?
Well, this one ain't
doing any good.
Stick that over there.
You guys said
you were gonna bring
the 650 here.
- So what?
- That was the whole
plan in the beginning.
You guys said you were gonna
bring it over here and then,
you didn't do it.
So, bring the 650 in.
We'll hook him up there.
Then, you come over here
on this side 'cause I got Andy
driving the 650.
Why don't you just let
him pull that side,
- Nope. Nope.
- why don't you
get on this one?
- You wanna do it?
- Yep.
Okay, Andy.
Bring the 650 in.
Here's the deal.
If you guys make
a mistake on this,
not only is it costing
these truckers
$250 an hour,
- so that's $750 an hour.
- Well, then, how about
when you guys say you were
gonna have the 650 over here,
- don't do
the opposite of that.
- He's gonna run it.
- What do you mean?
What're you talking about?
- He's running the 650.
You're not gonna run it.
We love the guys'
enthusiasm and everything,
but this stuff
is really dangerous.
When you got stuff this heavy
and your machines
are at their max,
sometimes you don't get
a second chance.
You make a mistake,
you kill somebody,
so I know that
they're not very happy
that we're here, but
we've done this
for a lot of years.
So, we're just gonna help 'em.
It's what's best for them.
We gotta do this right.
Otherwise, we're gonna hurt
something or, who knows?
It's turning into a big,
big nightmare.
You guys have to be careful.
You got that in blocked
or is it gonna roll off?
Where is it blocked?
Well, I don't want
anybody getting hit.
I don't know anything,
I guess.
Go, swing over.
move it.
When he's in a mood like that,
he's very dangerous
to be around.
Andy's hooked up.
Please don't
come unhooked.
Okay, Andy. You call it.
Real slow.
Woah, woah!
We gotta get
a different plan here.
Come around.
We think we can get that
hopper off and get him out
of here.
Hopefully, we can lift this.
In an effort to create
more space for the excavators
to attempt their lift
with the trommel,
the heaviest and most crucial
section of the Black Pearl,
Todd decides to unload
the hopper first.
What are you thinking?
- Can we just pick it?
- Come around this,
hook it,
around that, hook it.
- All the four--
- Where? To install?
- Yeah, to install.
- Okay.
- Right there
through that hole.
- Yep.
Dakota, hook that there
yourself. There ya go.
It might work!
Everybody, heads up.
- Watch out for those cables.
- Hang the bucket
in the middle of this.
Chain all four equally.
Pick it off.
This is taking like, an hour.
The entire weight of
the hopper's hefty steel frame
rests in the operator's hands.
One wrong move could send
it plummeting to the ground,
causing permanent
and costly damage.
Truck driver, when we lift up,
go forward, okay?
- Get ready.
- This is funny, man.
Hold on.
Let's stop.
I can't even look
at this .
Everybody, clear.
Now, watch. Watch it spin.
Easy.
Easy.
Hold on.
Hang on. Hold on.
Look at this .
Look how
you guys rigged it.
- How're we gonna weld
it back together--
- Don't worry about it.
Just get unloaded first.
There you go!
I don't know
why they would do
it like that.
are we doing?
Honestly, this
is embarrassing.
That machine
is probably
$500,000, $600,000 bucks.
Maybe $800,000.
They really need to be careful
with this equipment.
If something goes wrong,
it is not cheap to fix.
There's actually a chance
of injury and maybe even,
somebody getting
killed out here.
So, I gotta talk to Hunter.
I don't want the Black Pearl
to jeopardize
the whole operation.
Hey, guys. I think
we need to have a talk.
We need to all get
on the same page here.
Here's the deal.
The only reason
why I wanna step in,
is if it's because
of a safety issue.
It's gonna affect the mine
and it's gonna affect
your livelihood, yours,
yours, and yours.
That's all I'm gonna
say about it.
But if we have to step in
on anything like that,
just let us do it. Okay?
If one of us didn't come home,
or got hurt,
our mine's gonna get shut down
then it's gonna
affect all of us.
It's nothing personal to
you, your leadership
or anything else.
You guys are the future
of this mine.
Not us. We know that.
I just want everybody
to come home.
I hear you and
I'm in the wrong for putting
anybody in danger.
I don't know everything.
But my personal opinion,
as a leader,
I feel like
you're in the wrong
for not coming
in an appropriate manner
and showing some guidance.
I feel like you came in
and made us all feel
like we're stupid.
It makes it feel like
you guys don't respect us.
I just feel like everybody
should be treated with
equal respect.
It's always hard to work
with your family
and so, I'm just
trying to figure out
the best way to navigate
and communicate with
my dad, you know?
He's in this season
a lot of money,
so, I'm gonna try to keep
a cool head,
but at the same time, like,
the respect needs
to be mutual
and I think I deserve that.
I'm sorry for coming in
there and stepping on
your guys' toes.
It scared me
and it scared Andy.
We could've handled it better.
I have a lot to learn
and do better with.
I love you guys. I'm sorry.
Sorry for my part of it.
Mining's hard,
but parenting is,
let me tell you,
is a hell of a lot harder.
We just wanna complete
this mission that we went on,
to get the plant
actually here.
I know that you're paying
for it, but for us, I would
like us to complete the task.
Here's the compromise
I'm gonna offer.
I wanna see you guys
get this trommel
because we do want
you guys to have experience
and we want you to get
your plant up and running.
But you use Tater
and follow his lead.
Are you willing
to do that, Hunter?
I'm willing to do it however
you guys would like it.
We're all willing to
listen to you guys.
You guys have
a lot more experience.
Do you trust
us to do it or not?
- I trust you guys to do it.
- Okay.
I'm gonna follow your lead.
Okay, we're in agreement.
I'm gonna tell you right now.
You guys will have lifted
the biggest piece of equipment
that we've ever lifted,
and if you mess up,
it's on you guys.
Tater, you're in charge.
What's the plan?
Dakota, you're in the 490.
- You in the 650, Hunter,
if you're good with that.
- Yep.
- Okay.
- All right. Let's do this.
I'm open to learning
new things
and Tater has a lot
of experience in rigging
and doing this kind of stuff,
so, try to give us
a little bit more
of an advantage because
this thing is extremely heavy.
I've put Tater up against
anybody in Nome
or anywhere else,
as far as operating,
this guy's an expert.
Bravo!
I'm gonna need
another qualified operator.
If you don't mind,
we'll get Andy down here.
Get him on the third haul
and then, we'll work out
the rest of it.
- Okay.
- All right?
Get Andy over here.
Could we get you over here
on this third excavator?
- Just being safe.
- Yeah.
Plan is, we're gonna
get a third excavator on here
on that far side
and just try to relieve
a little bit of that weight.
All we wanna do is just get
it off this trailer so, we can
get this thing outta here
and then uh,
at least it's off the truck.
You got two big excavators on
there and they're strong so,
now, we're gonna have
to use three, but
we've never even moved
anything this big.
Nothing's impossible.
The excavator's
designed to pick low,
not up high.
When they were
lifting yesterday,
they were pointing down.
The way they had it,
it no strength, no boom left.
In order to help,
the team has built ramps
to provide the optimal
lifting angle.
What we're trying to do
is get it up a little higher.
To be able to have more lift,
to pull it,
it should have the power
to pick it off like that.
We have a plan now
that's gonna work.
Maybe.
Yeah, this is just ridiculous.
- What do you want me to do?
- So, we're gonna put you on
the other side with the 650.
Yeah, we're just
picking straight up.
- That'll work.
- Okay, let me know
when you're already.
I'm ready.
- Ready.
- Good to go.
I'm ready.
There, there. Everybody out.
All right. Everybody, pick.
Nice and easy.
Dakota, stay where you're at.
Yeah, yeah, a little more.
Yeah, yeah, a little more.
I think we're clear.
We're clear.
We're good to do.
Good to go.
What could go wrong?
A 50,000-pound drum.
Everybody, start going
down real easy.
If it broke, snapped,
rolled off, it's gonna bend
the whole end of the trommel,
and it's over, game over.
Really, really bad.
Hold on.
Stop.
I need you guys to not
make fun of Tater.
He's a little sensitive about
his head.
My name is Rob,
but my nickname is Tater.
I had a really big head
as a child, so people
called me Big Head.
As I got older,
it morphed into Tater.
Good job, Tater.
I've 30 years of
experience at excavation
and construction,
mechanic, welding, operator,
truck driver.
And he's good looking.
Full package.
It's always been a dream
of mine to come up here
and do this.
- Yas!
- The guy's really cool
to work with. He's funny.
I'm gonna another
short chain for this.
I'm right here. You don't have
to call me short.
The best operator
I've ever seen.
Wouldn't say
I'm the best.
Wouldn't say I'm the worst.
Truly an expert category.
The guy is phenomenal.
For every year,
you have half a year.
What I hope is that Tater
doesn't get any bigger
of a head than he already has.
I won't.
Hold on.
Stop.
Okay, we gotta get
some spare weight under it.
We gotta be little gentle
with it when we put it down.
Those trommel's got
an eight-foot drum,
over 50 feet long.
This is one of the biggest
trommels I've ever seen.
Cut it to all
the way down please.
Okay, you guys
take it right now.
We gotta just
be careful.
We gotta just take everything
easy and not get in a hurry.
And we're done.
- That's a wrap, my friends.
Proud of you guys.
- Thank you, Rob.
You guys did an awesome job.
- Thank you.
Good job, guys. Sweet.
- You did a good job.
We work as a team.
That thing is heavy.
And I'm just glad that
we got it off.
Just we're one step closer.
- Now, we can work on it.
- Yep.
Let's get going.
The boys did good.
Everybody's safe.
Nobody got hurt.
That's what we want.
They got her done.
That's what's important.
So, this is dirt
that we dug out
of the ancient river channel.
Big moment.
Better have some golden box.
Check the bypass.
Check the bypass.
Okay. Over, up.
Shut the trommel down.
Today is our very
first clean-up.
Yeah, we got a few ounces
underneath the old plants,
but today,
this is big.
This clean-up right
here is what matters.
I really want all my gold
caught in these hydraulic
nugget traps.
- See anything, Tater?
- Not yet, but just grabbing
big, old handfuls.
Here it comes, Framer.
We're just trying to get all
the concentrate out of
the hydraulic riffles
right now.
Look at that gold
coming out, guys.
Look at that.
- Woah!
- What do you got?
Look at that honker.
You know what? That's pretty.
Look at that one.
And, that means, guys,
out there in the world
right now,
getting nuggets handed to him
by a guy named Tater-Tots.
Oh, yeah!
- Look at that one.
- Todd,
look at my hand.
Look at this.
Look at Tater's hands.
All gold, man.
You think Tater's got gold
fever? I think he does, guys.
Putting on little nuggets
planted here, fellas.
- Look how much
gold is right here.
- Lot of gold.
Popping nuggets
left and right.
I think we're just starting
something really, really
wonderful here
and you know,
with all the hard work
these guys are putting in,
I'm starting to see nuggets
and guys like Framer
and Tater,
they're all excited.
I see Andy. He has a smile
on his face, you know, and
I don't know,
makes it all worth it.
Lot of gold. Be careful.
Be careful right here.
We've waited
a long time for this.
Know what that smells like?
Right there, guys?
Smells like
we're starting to win.
We're on the path.
I think that we just figured
out what this creek,
you know, needed,
as far as catching the gold.
But till we get done
with the clean-up,
we don't really know
how good we did.
I wanna see the clean-up.
Oh, my God!
This is very green.
- That's solid gold.
- Yeah.
You can poke someone's
eye out with those nuggets.
The last time I saw gold like
this was back in the '80s.
The ancient river
is absolutely a great
place to mine.
This is literally
the best stuff
we've ever done.
It's good-looking stuff.
In order to hit
their season goal
of 1,000 ounces,
the Hoffmans need to average
90 ounces of gold a week.
Let's try and wait,
see what Todd's got.
All right.
Holy Roller's up,
kicking ass it looks
like to me.
It's probably a little
bit of adjustment,
but this is kinda like
I envisioned it.
I think we got the right
angle on it and everything.
Yeah, really nice.
All right. Give me an update
on the Pearl.
Everything's still in pieces.
But uh, it's just
a lot of work, dude.
It's a huge plant. Gotta put
the hopper back on.
Put the drum back on.
We gotta change
out center roller.
So, we're looking at
probably weeks of welding,
day in and day out, so
Hey!
Oh, that's good. He came in
with a bottle instead
of a little white jar.
The jars are getting
a little small. Here we go.
- You ready?
- Yeah.
- Fill it out now.
- Falling it out, I'm not
Twenty-five.
- Forty.
- 40.
- Sixty.
- Nice.
Sixty-seven.
Seventy.
Four, five.
There. 76.
That's like, $125,000,
$130,000 on
our first clean-up.
Take it.
Yeah, I'll take it.
This is beautiful stuff,
you know?
This is kinda chunky.
So, do you guys give
the hydraulic nugget traps
- a clean bill of health and--
- I give your hydraulic riffles
a two thumbs up.
The only bummer about
that we're after 90 ounces.
This is only 76.
The Holy Roller's
first clean-up weighs
in at 76 ounces.
The Hoffmans now need 924 more
ounces of gold to reach their
1,000-ounce goal.
Now, we need
92 ounces per week.
We're kinda falling back,
but we're going forward.
That's a lot of gold.
The main thing is that
our plant's actually
catching gold.
That's what I was
worried about, not sending
half of it down the creek.
And, we got The Holy Roller
back five years. That sucker,
it catches the gold.
The 76 ounces is a great
start, but we did not get to
our weekly goal of 90 ounces.
So, it's
a little bit bittersweet,
but you know what?
I have faith now
in this paydirt.
So, hopefully,
all goes well.
We're gonna turn things
around here.
It's a good first step.
All right?
Get some sleep, guys.
We got a big day tomorrow.
- Okay?
- Yep.
See you guys.