This time on Aussie Gold Hunters...
Whoo-hoo! Yeah, baby!
..the Gold Retrievers' strong start to the season
comes to a grinding halt...
What's going on? Can't you hear that?
..as winter storms cripple their new $35,000 dry-blower...
We've potentially made a massive mistake here.
..and threaten to shut down their entire operation.
We don't have any other options.
What's the biggest nugget that's come out of the area?
28 ounces, but I'm sure there's been bigger stuff than that.
Shane and Russell's 3,000 kilometre expedition lands them on
an ancient creek in an area
renowned for fine gold.
Looking good!
..but wet paydirt...
It's not gonna work in the dry-blower.
..forces them to scrap their plan
and detect for nuggets as their only hope.
My lease, my machinery, my everything.
The Ferals ink a new deal with Levi's uncle, Kim North...
LEVI: If we don't find gold for Kim, we can be shipped out of there and moved on.
We need to sort this out. Just not working.
Rob is really starting to stress. The morale was getting down.
..but the pressure to find thousands of dollars of gold a week could tear the team apart.
You let him know, OK? How I feel about it.
Your attitude stinks at the moment, Levi.
Hey, you know, I reckon that, if I find a 20-ouncer tomorrow, you could be on your own.
It won't be the first time I've been dumped! (LAUGHS)
In Western Australia, prospecting partners
Shane Calegari and Russell Nash
are on the second leg
of their 3,000 kilometre hunt
through some of the state's most remote goldfields.
We left Yalgoo.
We just weren't getting any substantial gold.
Just getting bits and pieces. It just wasn't what we wanted.
The gold up north is a lot bigger.
You haven't got the people walking over it all the time. We're going to places we haven't been before.
But it's got to be worth the dollar, otherwise I wouldn't do it. It's a financial arrangement.
This week they're prospecting at Killara Station, 40 kilometres
outside the small mining settlement of Meekatharra.
I've got a friend up here called Liam. He's going to show us some
very promising ground that he knows about.
He was talking some big gold out here too.
Fortuitously for us, probably that's an area that not many people have been to.
But at 2,500 square kilometres in area,
finding gold indicators won't be easy.
(DOG BARKS) How are you going there, Liam?
Yeah, good, Shane. Haven't seen you for a while.
And meet my scaly mate, Rusty. Hey, Rusty. Good to meet you.
Rusty and I are here to come and talk to you about some gold.
I pegged a bit of ground a while ago,
but I don't have time to bloody do anything with it.
So, if you guys are keen, we can split a deal.
So how are we going to work out the gold?
Yeah, well, anything over a couple of ounces, we go 50:50.
The smaller pieces, I'm happy, if you guys keep them, as long as you tell me where you get them from.
That sounds good to me. I'm very happy with that. Let's go.
We're off! Fantastic, let's do it.
The further you go up north, the larger the gold will be.
Liam, on his property, has had substantial nuggets found there over the past.
Hopefully, we can find a spot there and we can do some work.
I've got kids and mortgages. I've got to find some gold to pay for it.
Righto, we all good? Yeah, right to go.
Killara Station has been in Liam's family for three generations
and produced over 500 ounces of historic gold.
Here we go, Shane. We're on our way.
Absolutely stunning.
Look at that! That's Australia. That's beautiful, isn't it?
What we've got to do is look for the good fault lines, Russell.
We need to try and find a fault line. That's where the gold has come up through the earth.
It's dispersed out and the water has carried it.
Fault lines are fractures in the earth's crust,
caused by major rock movement underground.
These events can release gold from deep below
and create depressions on the surface,
where creeks form and flow.
Over millions of years, the creeks dry,
but some can leave tell-tale areas of green foliage
and potentially gold-rich ground.
What's the biggest nugget that's come out of the area?
That I know of, 28 ounces, but I'm sure there's been bigger stuff than that over the years.
We don't need 28, we just need 20, Shane!
Yeah, crumbs. Big crumbs.
Big crumbs, yeah, that's right.
Nice creek line through here. Look at that.
That's where it'll be, Shane. That's where it's gonna be.
I'll just lock this position in, Shane, this looks pretty good here. Yeah, lock it in.
Where we are. Rightio.
Russell marked the GPS on it and I want to find my gold. That's what I want.
Well, I think that gives you blokes a bit of a start. Yeah, we're good.
We know where to go now, so we'll get the gear in there.
That's wonderful. That's shown us where the gold is, anyway. That's the main thing.
From the plane trip, we were able to find out the things that we need to be able to see.
The fault lines and, most important, the creek beds.
We set a target of 20 ounces.
We're certainly not on track at the moment.
We don't know whether we're at the better spots yet.
We could pick it all up in one hit. Who knows?
Rusty!
Last week...
That is gold, brother!
..Shane and Russell persevered at their first exploration site.
Joker's Badlands. In the shire of Yalgoo.
Just over an ounce. 2,700 bucks. $2,700.
That's really not what we're after. We're after large, chunkier gold.
But the gold wasn't big enough to stick around.
North? North.
Big gold!
It's a long, long way to go.
Three or four ounces in this section.
And we'll be all right, we'll be on our way.
So have you got this posi lined up where we're going now?
Yeah, I've got the GPS on the phone now, so we should be all right.
I'm starting to get very worried about it. I thought we would have been a lot better off.
Just one, Shane, that's all we need. Just a nice two or three ouncer, we'll be on our way.
I'm following you. I'm right behind you, brother.
Over 550 kilometres southeast,
near the historic Gold Rush town of Coolgardie...
Yeah, mate, I think this might be a really good time
to start pulling some samples out and getting them in the pan.
Yeah, that sounds good, mate.
Brad McGhie and Chris Smith
are desperately looking for ways to improve the gold yield
on their two square kilometre Devil's Cut lease.
Yeah, we'll start taking a few samples.
We've found good gold nuggets in here, so let's see if there's
some fine gold as well mate. We might be on the motherlode.
The investment that we've put in towards the operation here
has been around $250,000.
That's a lot of money for a first-timer to put in.
Our families are relying on us to make this work. It's hard being away from the family,
but if you have to put the time and effort in, then that's what you've got to do.
So this week we've got a dry-blower turning up, fingers crossed,
which is going to change the whole game for us, really.
It gives us just another option.
We've got little pockets here. Yeah.
So I'm thinking that they're good little spots to take a sample from.
A lot has fallen out there, so maybe take it out of the ground there. Yeah, for sure. Yeah.
Catch some of that.
The Gold Retrievers have found at least a dozen unique pockets of paydirt,
containing tiny, fine gold.
We can't rely on nuggets to get us through the season.
The mission is basically to get some fine gold. We need to prove it.
But they need to be sure there's enough to justify
the $35,000 price tag
of a new dry-blower.
We just want to sort of do a quick few samples.
I reckon we'll take about half a bucket.
We've had to take another risk again with another $35,000, but no risk, no reward.
We're gonna take our samples up.
Hopefully, we'll see some of that yellow stuff.
We better get our arses into gear.
Let's go! In their season's opening week...
He's in the loader, man. He's got the genny. Stop!
..the pair faced the risks of running a remote mining operation.
Ah, he's tried to steal our generator!
Thieves ransacked their camp
hoping to steal machinery and gold.
Better be targets, buddy. Mate, they're targets.
But despite the setback, the Devil's Cut
continued to produce a run of nuggets.
We've still got about 27 ounces to go. Hopefully, we find a few more nuggets, but we believe there's
a lot of fine gold through everything we've been digging out. This will prove it.
This is sort of a bit of a do or die moment. Sure is.
Let's give her a bell. Give it a go, mate.
We've just dropped another 35K into the dry-blower. So that's,
it's another debt that we really didn't want.
It would be nice to just get one.
One little speck, then we can concentrate on where that came from.
If there's anything in the pan, we should be able to see it very shortly.
Come on, baby.
Is that a bit of gold?
That's a nice little piece. Whoo-hoo-hoo!
Yes! That's unreal. If that's all through that stuff, the dry-blower is gonna pick that up, mate.
We're gonna do very well.
That's it for the day.
This is the time I really miss the family.
Good girl.
I want to actually leave them a really good legacy.
You know, when I'm not here, I want them to be able to say, you know,
"This is what my dad did."
It's time to start getting those machines working for us.
(HORN BEEPS)
Russell builds great dry-blowers, so we've got a lot of confidence in him.
How are you, mate? Good to see you.
Local bush mechanic Russell Higgins has custom-built a $35,000 dry-blower for the pair,
capable of pumping through ten tonnes of paydirt an hour.
The unique design has no moving parts,
making it tough enough to withstand the harsh Outback conditions.
I think we'll call her Dusty!
It's going to be. The last piece of the puzzle.
The dry-blower has no moving parts,
so there's no breakdowns that we can foresee.
It's pretty much a fail-safe piece of machinery.
If that doesn't produce, it's another waste of money.
If you've got any moisture in the dirt at all, don't run it.
You'll end up with problem after problem of blockages.
And that will happen with any dry-blower as well. Yeah.
We'll send you a photo of the first yield of gold, mate.
Very nice. All right, boys. Take it easy, mate. Have a safe trip, hey. Thanks, Russ.
Catch you Rusty!
It's a lot of money we don't have, so we have to make this work. This is it.
2 00:11:14.000 -- 00:11:17.640 align:middle line:90% position:50% Whatever deal yous guys want to do, we're all in together. Right?
100%, mate. Absolutely, buddy, absolutely.
In Western Australia's vast Pilbara region...
..the Ferals, Rob Beeton, Ryan Peters and Levi North
are heading to negotiate a new deal
to prospect on a lease owned by Levi's uncle, Kim North.
Be interesting to see what he's got in the pipeline.
Gold, you just never know, doors open and close all the time.
Hopefully, this time, he might be a bit more understanding with us.
Last season, the Ferals struck a deal to work Kim's leases.
If we don't find any gold, what do you think we're gonna be doing next?
He's gonna come out here, he's gonna want to see gold.
Well, hey, man, that's like looking for a needle in a haystack!
'But the trio struggled to find enough
to keep the boss satisfied.'
18 grams. So we're not making any money.
So I'm going to let yous go.
How are you going, boys? It's good to see yous back.
Levi. Kim. Good to see you.
Robbie. How you going? All right? Ryan. How you going, buddy?
I've got a lease that's been worked, but the guys had to go away.
So, I've got a bit of ground I need to do some expenditure on.
And I might have a couple of possible clients to purchase some of it.
So I want to do a bit of proving up and I want to find some gold.
Last time, we sort of got moved on.
If you want us back this time,
right, how about we try and get the best gear that we can get?
Robbie, you guys have been with me for a while and we've done a few leases now.
If I give you a big toy, you'll make a big mess, but the same amount of gold.
All right?
Let's cut to the chase. What sort of deal are we gonna be looking at?
Normally, I run a 40:60. My lease, my machinery, my everything. All right?
Yeah. So, you know, it's like before. If you didn't get much,
I don't take much. Yeah.
With finding nuggets, it's all trust. Nothing but trust.
Yeah, I'm happy with a 60:40.
Yeah? All good with that deal? Yeah.
No worries. Cheers, guys. Hopefully, we can find you some gold. Head out.
It's awesome that Kim's given us a second chance. I've lived a lot of time in the bush.
Hopefully, this year, I can start building a real, proper house.
Having secured a 60% take of the gold, the Ferals are now
venturing into the extreme Outback wilderness of the Pilbara.
Once a shallow marine basin attached to the ancient Australian continent,
the region is famous for its rich ironstone deposits.
But in 2016,
a discovery of abundant nuggets
kick-started a brand-new gold rush.
The Ferals need to prove gold for Kim on a remote two square kilometre lease,
half a day's drive from the nearest town.
Oh, well, we got a digger. We'll get geared up and get out there.
Give us a call if you find anything, Robbie. Mate, you'll be the first one.
Sounds good, mate. Get on the gold, boys!
It's so important for us as Team Ferals to get those 40 ounces.
For me, it's really important, I want to be able to provide for my children's future.
If we get moved off this lease and we don't find any gold,
the pressure is building up, it's getting harder and harder to do what I want to do.
(JUDDERING)
Seems to be running a little bit rough.
Ah, it's gone.
Roger. I'll come over and have a look.
Just as you're motoring along?
It just feels like I'm losing power. Like the fuel's not getting in.
Has it got a primer there? It does, but it doesn't feel like there's anything in it.
OK, yeah. Maybe it's getting starved.
Doesn't look like there's much fuel in there.
Nah, not much fuel getting in there.
What was... There's a little bit of snot in the bottom.
Mm. Little bit dirty.
What's it got on there? It's got...
931 hours on that filter.
2018.
That's got to be... Yeah, mate, I reckon...
Yeah, it looks like rubbish inside.
Oh, mate, someone's run this dry and dredged that tank.
What's up, man?
Just fuel? Yeah, it's a fuel issue.
Have a look at the (BLEEP) in that.
They've dredged everything off the bottom of the tank.
You can physically see - It's full of... (BLEEP) (BLEEP)
The machines aren't serviced too well. Have a look at the date on that.
It's 2018.
Mate, this looks like we've been set up.
We come out here to fail again.
There's not much we can do about it.
All we can do is just head straight into town. As soon -
But, Ryan, he asked us to come out here. I know, man.
Yeah. He asked us to come out here.
So, right, really, everything should be good. You would expect -
We could be somewhere else!
Getting annoyed with him is not going to make any difference.
Mate, I tell you, I'm just...
Look, Robbie, mate... What is it? What is it that we got to fail, mate?
Why is it that we're having this bad luck?
Look, we took Kim at his word. He said everything was good to go.
He can't help us either, mate.
It's not anybody's fault, man.
We've got something to prove and we can't prove nothing like this.
We'll prove it by getting that machine going and we'll prove it by finding gold.
We're very grateful for Kim, for getting us back on his leases.
Rob is really starting to stress. The morale was getting down.
So far, we've got about 13 grams. The clock is ticking.
If we don't find the gold for Kim, we can be shipped out of there and moved on.
You let him know, OK? How I feel about it. Yeah.
To me, this looks like that we're set up to fail.
Nah, no-one is setting us up, mate. Just go for a swing.
You and Levi go for a swing. I'll do a run into town.
We'll make it work, bro. We'll make it work.
Oh, I see a creek bed!
I see gold! I see gold, I'm sure.
Hey, Shane, looking at the GPS, it's the same spot, this is where the creek was.
This is the bit we flew over.
This is where it says we were, right here. You flew straight over this. So did I.
Killara Station. Western Australia.
Got it all here, Russell.
Shane and Russell have found the GPS location they pinned
during an aerial survey of the massive lease.
I mean, was it here 1,000 years ago?
The riverbed would be underneath here, could be a lot wider.
The pair's theory is that the creek bed follows a fault line,
hiding a wider ancient riverbed below the surface,
containing detectable nuggets
and fine gold.
10,000 years ago, 1,000 years ago, it might not have been in the same spot.
So we've got to dig a cross-section and try and locate it.
Whereabouts do you want it?
Right here.
Look how wet it is, that's what worries me.
This should be like dust. We should be getting covered in dust now.
Well, it's not going to work in the dry-blower, is it? No.
We've had a lot of rain here. This ground is holding water.
It's going to be nearly impossible to be able to dry-blow this dirt here.
Unbelievable. I feel like it's wasting my time. If it doesn't work in the dry-blower, we're in trouble.
We're in the lap of the gods. I'm going to tow the thing off and see what happens.
Right hand down more. More, more, more, more.
That's it. Beautiful job.
Ha ha ha! Look at that!
Well done, Rusty. Let's go and set up, we're on our way.
Oh, first go every time, Russell.
OK, Rusty, let's get on the ground.
Looking good, Russell.
It's still a bit wet, though.
This dirt just congeals, it sticks together. We need the dry, dusty dirt.
So I've got to take the top off, just waste that. Hopefully, there's some gold in the hard.
If it's all on the top here, we're in trouble.
The dry-blower intakes paydirt through the hopper,
which separates the smaller material
into the riffle trays.
Compressed air is pumped
from underneath,
blowing the lighter dirt out, leaving
the heavier gold trapped in the riffles.
I actually budgeted that we'd have to get close to a couple of ounces a week.
The dry-blowing was a bit of what we call "bread and butter",
but that's what we're sweating on.
We're a lot deeper than where the creek is now, so this could be the old creek bed.
We haven't got long here, so we want to find the best dirt.
It's not perfect, but it's OK.
I was hoping there'd be three or four ounces by now, at least.
We're just, just hanging in there.
Hey, Brad! (KNOCKS)
Hey! What?
Get up! (GROANS) Come on.
What's going on? Can't you hear that?
Over 550 kilometres southeast, at the Devil's Cut...
Is that everything? Yeah. All right, let's go. Let's go, man. Righto.
..an unexpected storm has blown in overnight,
putting the Gold Retrievers' brand-new dry-blower out of action.
It didn't say it was gonna rain today.
Oh, I dunno. It was coming tonight.
The dry-blower is sitting in the rain. We've got to try and cover it up as quick as we can.
We just can't get it wet, otherwise it's just useless to us.
Aaah.
Grab the rope, mate. I'll just start dragging this tarp over.
Yeah, hang on, mate. Want the ladder? Nah, we're good.
We got to get this covered up. Don't tear it, mate.
I'm hoping we haven't got any moisture down the chutes,
cos that's, that's days of drying out once we get the sunshine back.
This is serious. This is a serious bit of gear, you know.
You got all the electrics. Any moisture on this machine could potentially ruin it,
pretty much throwing money out of the window.
We've potentially made a massive mistake here.
Do you reckon we could keep going or what?
The only thing we can do is try and push and detect in that pit where we found the nuggets.
(RUMBLE OF THUNDER)
Fine-gold recovery is now stalled for at least 48 hours,
until Dusty dries off.
The pair are forced to return to scraping and detecting for nuggets.
Whoa, this is sticky as.
But any further rain will force them to down tools completely.
We're gonna try and find gold. No matter what the weather conditions.
So we've got to try and make something work.
Wahey.
Wahey. Whoa!
You all right there?
You gonna get back up or what?
I don't know. I didn't realise it was that slippery, hey.
Chris scrapes 15 centimetres off the surface layer,
allowing their detectors to penetrate deeper, in search of nuggets.
Just take it easy, getting back up there.
Yeah, mate.
It's not going to work, Brad. Bring her down, mate.
We're up here to find gold. That's what our families are expecting of us.
We can't sit around, waiting for the rain to stop.
All right. Let's have a go, mate. Let's not rule it out yet.
If anyone can do it, you can, mate. Ah, well, I'll give it a go.
Come on, Brad. You can do it.
Come on, mate.
(WHISTLES)
Back it down, mate. You're just destroying it.
I literally have put my life savings into this.
We have to start paying the money back into our accounts.
Just gonna destroy it, Brad. She's not going, mate.
Aargh! Our dry-blowing is stuffed. Our push and detecting is stuffed.
I... We don't have any other options, mate. I don't know what to do.
(RUMBLE OF THUNDER)
(LIGHT RAIN)
There's no plan B.
And the heavens are opening up again now.
We're in a world of hurt.
2 00:23:49.120 -- 00:23:51.120 align:middle line:90% position:50% We need gold!
Where are you?
(LAUGHS) Oh, Robbie's going off over there.
Oh, it's all good, Robbie. We'll find some yellow, mate.
This is the troubles that we have. You know? Trying to organise something,
get everything organised and then, all of a sudden, something fails
and bang, that's it, everything stops.
Over 1,100 kilometres north,
a crippled excavator is causing
huge frustrations for Rob and the Ferals.
Ryan is in town, hopefully picking up a new filter for the digger.
We haven't got any reception out here,
so it's really hard to know how long he's going to be.
We need that digger to move the spinifex,
move the layer of dirt off the top.
That's at the heart of what we do.
Come on! Give it up!
You all good? I can hear you carrying on and cursing a bit.
Oh, it's... It's just getting to me, man, with this filter. You know?
I'm wondering if we should move somewhere.
I dunno, go to higher ground or something.
Get out of this low-lying area and just see if there's any gold coming out of these hills.
I reckon we just stay here.
Kim told us to have a look down in this little gully here.
Yeah, I know, but this is a big lease, bro.
We can check other spots out, while we're waiting for Ryan. We don't have to hang here.
Righto, well, you don't have to be smart about it.
Listen, mate, I'm not being a smart arse. I'm just gonna go to the car and have a break. All right?
With gold, the biggest thing is trust. That's number one.
At the end of the day, the more harder we all work, the bigger the kitty.
We need to sort this out. It's just not working.
You know, his uncle told us to do something. So, you know, why don't you listen to your uncle?
You're his nephew!
Levi! Robbie? We can't... We can't quit now, mate. All right?
I'm not quitting, mate. I'm just having a break.
I'm having a drink of water and just cooling out a bit.
I know, but - Got to have a break at some point.
But we've got to stay here. OK? This is what your uncle wanted us to do.
I don't want to run into like what happened before.
We didn't produce any gold. What did we do? Got shoved on!
The digger's broken down. We've walked... We've walked this area
for I don't know how long now, I've lost track of the time.
Like, why don't we just try another area while we're waiting for Ryan?
We can't just give up like this. I'm not giving up, Robbie.
Let's have ten minutes. We'll just cool it out for ten.
Then we'll get back into it. All right?
Your attitude stinks, at the moment, Levi.
Listen, I didn't leave my wife back in Exmouth to come up here
and hang out with you Ferals not to find gold.
If we don't produce any gold, you know what your uncle is gonna do.
Oh, he's going to give us a kick up the bum.
Let's have a time-out, hey, and we'll just cool it.
Robbie, he's not so cool, not so calm.
You're just sitting there, going, "What the heck just happened?" You know? It's just...
Robbie, it's all good, mate.
Come here.
Hey, this is what gold does to people. Yeah.
Sends them crazy! Yeah, I know, buddy.
I know. I know, but it's just... You know what it's like, man. It just gets real stressful.
This year, I really want to build my house. Since we got out here,
we've just been fighting a losing battle.
Oh, well. Let's just have a little...a little break. Hey?
If it gets to me, then that's it.
We...
All of us boys will just end up having a big blue.
And that's just not how we roll. That's not kosher, is it, mate? No.
All right. All right.
Gold fever is when the greed comes into things. People just go crazy.
I'm so glad that these two guys can actually put up with me.
Hey!
Ryno! Yeah, boy!
You're back, bro. Yeah, boy. How are you Ferals going?
Oh, it's been a struggle. Yeah?
So I got the filter, mate. You know, fair dinkum, we were lucky to get it.
But it is a bit different than the other one.
But...
They reckon it's compatible. That's all we need to know.
It's definitely smaller than the other filter. We'll see how we go.
Are you all right there?
Come on.
It's the same size.
Look at you go, with your chippy hands! I think that's good enough.
We'll give it a turnover and we'll see what happens.
Keep your hands clear then. Yeah.
If that machine ain't going,
we're not going and no gold.
Let's see how she goes, boys.
(ENGINE STARTS)
Start moving!
Yeah, bud, what I'll do is I'll just start clearing the bush out the way.
Yeah, roger, buddy. Just take it easy.
Rob's just chosen a spot.
We're going to push this area, open her up a little bit.
Fingers crossed, we find some gold.
Just got to slowly eat our way through it.
You're not gonna do it all in one big push.
The excavator is now back in action,
allowing the Ferals to finally get below the vegetation
and surface layer to deeper ground.
(WHOOPS)
Oh, got a little signal.
Ooh-ooh!
Oh, yeah!
I reckon I got it out there.
Let's see how we go.
(WHOOPS) It's out somewhere.
Come on.
(WHOOPS)
Oh, yeah, it's a bit of gold, boys!
You beauty!
There we go, a nice little chunk.
Probably 150 bucks.
The young fella strikes again!
Hopefully, there's a few more nuggets out here to be had.
At the moment, I can see our time is going to be pretty limited here,
because it's just getting darker and darker.
(RUMBLE OF THUNDER) You got a copy there, Levi?
"Yeah, Ryan." We've seriously got to think about packing up and getting out of here.
That weather is coming in and we don't want to get stuck.
"I'll see you up at the car."
When torrential rain mixes with the Pilbara's fine red dirt,
it can create dangerous mud pools.
Impassable.
Even in a four-wheel drive.
Time's ticking. The weather's against us.
You know, it's disappointing that we've got to move on and that the machine's not running well
and the weather's coming in.
This is clearly not a fairy-tale.
It's working real good, Russell.
Killara Station.
Western Australia.
Shane and Russell are anxiously searching for fine gold
from an ancient underground creek bed.
It's too wet to do what we want to do.
But damp paydirt means they can only feed their dry-blower
at half the normal rate.
We've put a fair bit of dirt through and I'm really starting to think
it's probably time I had a bit of a detect.
We need to find the nuggets
and the small gold, as well.
Liam, on his property, has had substantial nuggets found there over the past.
You know you need a bit of luck. I believe in luck.
I've got a chance to find some gold here.
You've only got that little area there.
You've really got to be lucky to strike something.
That's why you've got to go this way
and then go that way.
(BRIEF WHOOP)
I sort of... I think I got a sound just then.
(BUZZING) (GULPS)
Oh, geez, that was a very untasty fly I just ate.
(WHOOPS)
I've got a sound there.
Just hope it's not a bit of metal.
(WHOOPS)
OK.
Oh, got to get down on my hands and knees.
(WHOOPS)
To me, if this is gold, it's gonna be a little bit larger than normal.
I've pushed up out of that hole. And I've now pushed it to here.
Right, I've got it in my hand here now.
Oh, look at that!
That's a lovely piece of gold. Look.
Now I reckon that's over one and a half grams.
Now that is...
I'd say that's about a $150 piece of gold.
The jar is very light at the moment.
That's light.
You can see how wet it is here, on the ground.
I can't really put it through the dry-blower, so I might as well have a detect.
The duo now need at least two ounces a week to cover costs,
so Russell has no option but to switch to the detector
and search for alluvial nuggets just below the surface.
(WHOOPS) (LAUGHS)
Oh, we've moved it. She's out.
(CHUCKLES)
Oh, you little beauty! Ha ha!
Look at that baby.
It's at least going to be two grams.
There should be more like it. I'd better get stuck into it.
2 00:32:58.040 -- 00:33:02.040 align:middle line:90% position:50% This ground has just turned to mud. We really need a bit of a win today.
Over 550 kilometres southeast,
at the Devil's Cut lease,
torrential rain and wet dirt has shut down
the Gold Retrievers' new dry-blower
and bogged their ten-tonne loader.
I think the only way I'm going to get you out of that pit is by using the excavator bucket.
Just try and grab your bucket and help you out a little bit.
If that doesn't, nothing will. Righto, mate, here we go.
Yeah, up you go, mate.
We've got to be very careful.
If we damage either one of those machines, that's just more costs on top of everything.
Easy does it.
Yoo-hoo! We're back in business, boy!
Ah, out of the swimming pool!
Clock's ticking, mate. Let's get it going.
At the moment, we've got a very small window in the weather.
You can see the black clouds coming through again now, so we need to be as quick as we possibly can.
We need to...
get this ramp back up and working.
If we can't get the loader in there, we can't push, we can't find nuggets.
Brad reinforces the ramp with dry dirt, allowing Chris
to enter safely with the loader.
So what Chris can do now is he can take off another six inches
and then we can start detecting again.
We take out a whole new layer and we're into fresh ground again.
Ah, that's better. That's better!
How's it looking?
Looking good, mate. Good? Looking good! Cool.
Looks good to me, mate.
I'll just park her up the end here and we'll start on that end.
I'll grab the detector. Sounds like a plan, mate. No worries.
Good luck, mate. Thanks, mate.
Good luck to you, too. Cheers, bud.
We're looking for that crisp sound coming through the detector.
(WHOOPS) Hey, now that's a target.
That's a target. That's a definite target, mate.
This weather is coming in and it's coming in fast.
So try and sort of work together. Um...
Try and get something on the board. You know?
Where do you think, mate?
(WHOOPS)
Around about here somewhere.
That's pretty hard ground.
That's never been worked before. Nah, that's, that's...
hard as, mate.
Ooh! Look at that!
(LAUGHS) Oh, dude!
I just saw it. Whoo!
That's a beautiful piece of gold, mate.
I'd say three grams easy, mate.
A couple of hundred bucks. Yeah.
Well done, mate.
I'd go over it again, just make sure that's the only one in there.
Absolutely. That's a little ripper. That's a beautiful piece.
(WHOOPS) (GIGGLES)
Mate, that's... That's another target.
I think we'll try the scoop on him. Yeah. If it's on top...
Hold onto that piece of gold. I don't want to lose it.
Another piece in the same pocket?
What's that?
Oh, straight away! Look at that. Another piece. Oh, well done.
That's, that's great, absolutely fantastic.
That's his brother. A couple of pieces for the board.
Finding a couple of nuggets in quick succession gives us high hopes that we're gonna do quite well.
Whoo-hoo! Yeah, baby!
You got a copy, Levi?
"Yeah, Robbie. I've got a copy, mate. How are you going?"
It's, um, not looking good for the Ferals.
There's got to be something here, mate, there's got to be.
Over 1,000 kilometres northwest, the Ferals have returned,
after a heavy downpour of rain lost them a full day's hunt.
We didn't get as much rain as what we thought we would.
So we've hung around. A couple more pushes here,
we might get down to the right layer that we want to get onto.
We're not producing anything. It's not making us real happy.
I don't think it's gonna make Kim happy either. You know?
The team's strategy is failing.
They've found just 24 grams
towards their $100,000 season target.
Maybe we go and push somewhere else, over that way a bit more.
That way, Ryno's got something to work on, as well.
Yeah, sounds good. I'll, um, push down towards the creek. Sounds good, bud.
(LONG WHOOP)
Wow, listen to that.
I hope it's not rubbish.
All right.
Kim's put us onto some ground and we're only finding small stuff.
Really not enough to keep us on this lease.
I got this call blank and I just can't pinpoint where it is.
So I'm just going to scoop.
A "call blank" is when the machine just zips out, like it's that...
Just a continual noise that...
You can't sort of hear those whoop-whoop, whoop-whoop.
You can't pinpoint that, that gold.
(WHOOPS) Oh!
Wow! Well, I've got something in here.
(WHOOPS)
To me, it just sounds like rubbish.
Oh-oh-oh. Mate...
That is not rubbish.
That's gold, man. And that is as gold as it gets.
That is a nugget.
Oh, yes!
(CHUCKLES)
Hey, this makes it all worthwhile.
And guess what?
There's another target here.
So, hopefully, there's two of these babies.
(GRUNTS) I'm getting too old for this.
(WHOOPS)
Oh. Oh-ho-ho!
(LAUGHS)
Yoo-hoo!
She's another beauty!
Ah, fair dinkum.
That's a ripper.
(CHUCKLES)
Two in the scoop.
We really, really need this gold.
Let's weigh up before we get wet. OK.
We'll see how we did. Let's have a look how we're going.
This weather's not looking good. We're gonna get wet.
In Western Australia,
Shane and Russell are at the end of the third week of their massive
3,000 kilometre gold-hunting expedition,
but they're, once again, over 18 ounces short
of their 20-ounce season target.
What do you think? I don't know, Russell.
Just weigh it. All I want to hear about is a dollar number, brother.
It's a pile.
OK. And these two ones.
Your little one and my big boy.
OK. So what have we actually got?
Dollar factor?
About $2,900.
That's not bad. That's acceptable.
This week's haul takes their tally to over $6,000,
but it's still over $40,000 short of the target.
It's not great, but we're still in the game.
It's gold. It's a good colour. We're still in the game.
But we can't hang around here. So maybe, next time, head north and high.
We need to get out of here, we're gonna get wet.
I'm out here busting my arse and it's not enough.
It's not even paying my wage. I should have stayed at home, so...
Let's pack up and get out of here. OK, pack up and go.
Let's do it.
Let's go and have a weigh-up, hey?
Oh, it's been a long week.
It has been a long week, mate.
And a filthy one at that!
550 kilometres southeast,
the Gold Retrievers
have had their operation crippled by torrential rain,
but they still need an ounce of gold this week to stay afloat.
Not really on track yet, but it's been...
A couple of good little finds.
We're not sitting on our laurels. Let's check it. Yeah.
Let's see what we've got.
1.34. 1.3. There you go, right in the middle.
That's awesome. I'm happy with that. I'm very happy with that.
This is a bonus. I didn't think we were gonna come out with anything.
The 1.3 ounce,
$3,000 payday not only covers their weekly costs,
but delivers a much-needed profit to their bottom line.
I'll put this away and... Put it in a safe place, mate. Yeah.
We're going to be putting that dry-blower through its paces.
Levi! Yo.
What time are we calling your uncle? After we weigh the gold.
Let's see how much yellow we got. Read and weep. Yes.
In the northern reaches of the Pilbara region,
the Ferals need at least an ounce and a half this week
to stay working on Kim's lease.
I hope we won't be weeping, after you call your uncle, mate.
I've just got a feeling he might move us on.
Oh, I reckon we might get through.
With all the rain and the machine downtimes.
He's knows it's been hard going. Yeah. So...
All right. Let's see what we got. Give him the news.
Just over half an ounce of the small stuff.
We'll get the big bits on. The bigger ones. The chunky monkeys.
Ooh! One and a half ounces.
That's not too bad. A pretty good effort. I'm happy. I'm happy.
The weigh-in is worth
over $3,700,
but Kim will take his 40% share,
leaving less than $2,300,
to split three ways, for the Ferals.
It's all right if we're all happy, but Kim's got to be the one...
He's the man that's got to be happy.
Yeah. Well... I just, yeah...
Give him a call and let's see what happens.
All right. Sounds good.
Kim. "Hey."
Hey, um, yeah, we've picked up
about 1.4 ounces.
"1.4 is all right."
Yeah, it's not bad. "You've had your issues. Machine. Weather.
You're going well." We'll keep cracking on, mate.
He was in a good mood. Didn't yell. He is in a good mood.
He didn't yell. I think he knows it's been pretty wet out here.
And the troubles we've had with the machine.
I seriously thought he'd go, "Off you go again, go and find somewhere else to play."
Good stuff, Ferals. Good stuff. We've got another week.
Yeah, boy. Hey.
Good stuff. We'll crack on. That's it, boys.
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