[Parker] The main goal of this trip is fairly straightforward.
I'm looking for an operation to invest in.
South America has a lot of ounces in the ground,
but it's not for the faint of heart.
[horns honking]
[laughs]
[narrator] For eight weeks...
Should we find some gold miners?
[narrator] ...gold miner, Parker Schnabel,
and his friends have trekked through South America...
First pan of Peru.
[Tyler] Look at that.
[narrator] ...on the hunt for gold rich ground.
We're getting into some gold country now.
Oh, my [bleep], are you serious?
[Parker] That's impressive gold.
[Tyler] That's pretty rich ground.
Muy bien?
[narrator] Following in the footsteps of the Incas...
[Danny] That's incredible.
It's just a shovel from off the beach.
[narrator] ...they push deep into the jungle...
Ty, Ty. Ty.
- [speaking Spanish] - No, no, no, no.
[Diego] Guys get the [bleep] out of there.
So [bleep] awesome.
[narrator] ...and high into the mountains...
[Danny] I know there's gold here.
I'd really like to see what's further down, find more gold.
[Tyler] Offer him six, see if he'll take that.
Muchas gracias.
[Danny] We made it! We go on!
Pump, a generator, sluice box, what else.
[Parker] Three grams.
[narrator] Now, with the trip coming to an end...
[Parker] The money to keep going is a lot less
than the money to leave.
[narrator] ...Parker's down to one final option.
- Oh, that's a hole. - [bleeping]
[Parker] Holy [bleep].
Oh, my [bleep].
[Parker] This is what we've been looking for.
I'm gonna push hard for the group to come here.
[Tyler] We've decided to leave Bonanza.
It was a bust.
About three grams for 20 yards,
which is half as good as the Yukon is.
[narrator] With only four days left in his prospecting trip,
28-year-old Parker Schnabel has stuck out again.
But he's not giving up yet.
I think that the opportunities at the place where Dan and I went to are better,
so that's where we're headed.
And we can test their existing system
and really assess that ground in their mine site.
My gut's telling me to do it, so we're gonna do it.
[Tyler] I would feel really disheartened if we stayed here.
I just don't think it has what we need.
So I'm so happy with Parker's decision just to move on.
It's down to the last minute, we cannot waste any time.
[narrator] With a 95% recovery rate,
the 1,300-pound test trommel is essential for determining
the viability of Parker's final lead.
- [Danny] What do you wanna do? - Spin it?
[Danny] We need to be fast, pack up,
get our ducks in a row, get everything organized.
Get that trommel to the other mine site.
Spin.
And start working there as quickly as possible.
Close enough.
[Danny] Hang on a minute.
There's no lock in the ball.
[bleep] hell.
Let's try it. [bleep] it.
[Parker grunts]
[Parker] Oh, yeah, that's gonna work like a dream.
No safety chains, no lock and a wrong size ball.
[sighs]
Everything's [bleep].
We don't have a safety lock for that. It's the wrong size as well,
so we're just trying to figure out what the [bleep] to do
and how to get this trommel out of here.
And not much is coming to mind.
Put it on the roof?
- [Danny] Nope. - [Diego] Nah.
[blows raspberry]
[Danny] This is an equipment that they don't have
that could find out some really, really interesting bits of information.
There's no point in leaving this place without that trommel.
It's as simple as that.
[Parker] We could use a rope.
[Danny] I was thinking that.
We could, like, figure of eight it
through there. Let's try.
So you just put that in there.
That's it. Okay.
And then we've got our... That's right.
This is gonna work.
[Parker] But the problem with that is that if something breaks,
this thing is going off the side of the cliff.
[Danny] That is gonna take a lot of weight.
I think that's as good a chance as you got.
- Cool. [chuckles] - [Tyler] Good work.
We basically, uh, MacGyvered the [bleep] out of the back of this trommel.
I've just used a ridiculous amounts of climbing rope
and just bound it over and over and over and over again.
And just...
hope it gets up the hill.
[Parker] It looks like we [bleep] a bunch of silk out of our ass
to try to get this trommel tied to our truck.
I wanted to put it on the roof, but...
sometimes I let them make the team decisions.
What's the worst that can happen?
- We ready? - Yeah.
We're ready.
Everything is battened down? I'm... I'm gonna ride back here for a bit.
- Just to see how it goes. - [Danny] Yeah, okay.
[Diego] Please be careful, I'm gonna go--
- [Parker] Oh, yeah, don't worry about me. - Okay.
[Parker] Leave your window rolled down.
[Tyler] Obviously, my only concern is getting up this hill.
There's so many switchbacks, it's really bumpy it's not a safe journey,
let alone, a safe journey towing a trommel.
All righty, let's go.
Yeah, you're good.
[rattling]
How is it?
Yeah, good.
First test passed.
[Parker] Beautiful, Dan.
[chuckling] Yeah, [bleep] no.
I'm just waiting to hear the snap.
Hear it go couriering down the hill.
[Parker] Oh.
That first corner's gonna be a real test.
[rattling continues]
Oh, I don't like the noise.
[Tyler] Oh.
I'm worried about Parker, man.
He's okay.
Slow down a little, if you can.
Yeah well this corner up here is tight.
[Danny] Big old drop.
[Tyler] Yeah.
- Oh, oh, boy. - [bleeping]
[rattling continues]
[groans]
[bleep], no!
[Parker] Diego, it is...
[Parker] It is getting quite close to tipping over.
Yeah, I just saw that.
- [Parker] So you just gotta stay slow. - Okay.
Oh, my [bleep].
This is a big one.
Oh, [bleep], super slow, creep.
[bleep]
[Danny] Oh.
Oh, my [bleep]
That was close.
That's the last big turn.
- [sighs] - Well done, mate.
That was stressful.
We're gonna have to do this speed the whole way.
That's okay, as long as we get there.
[laughs]
- [laughs] - Perfect.
- Is it all right? - Yeah, it's just, you have to go slow.
Yeah, this is gonna be a long drive.
[yawns]
- [Danny] But, we're not far now. - Okay, good.
We're not far.
[bleeps] me.
That was a long drive.
[Danny] We're here.
[narrator] A family-run mine, the Kemci claim
is a 450-acre site...
nestled on a massive valley floor
in the foothills of the Andes.
With evidence of ancient deposits of gold
very deep in the ground,
the owner, Cancio, is digging in search of the mother lode.
- [Parker] Hola! - Hola,Parker.
[in Spanish]
[narrator] After seeing great gold on their last visit,
Parker wants to double down his investigation of the ground.
And owner, Cancio, is eager to get his insight...
with the hope of striking a deal.
[in Spanish]
- [in English] Yes. - Yes.
[Cancio in Spanish]
- Hola. - [in English] Cancio.
- Diego. - Diego.
- Rodrigo. - Rodrigo.
[Danny] We're here, it's a relief.
Now is the time for us to get down, work hard, get involved,
and, uh, and really see what this place is all about.
[Cancio in Spanish]
[in English] How did it go?
A long drive here.
- [laughs] - [Speaking Spanish]
- Yeah. - Yeah.
But we brought our trommel...
[Parker] They're worried about a few things in their operation,
which we'll be able to test with the trommel.
And it's a family-run, underfunded place
that has a huge amount of ground.
Like, that's exactly what we're looking for.
You know, I definitely need to spend more time with Cancio and get to know him more.
Wow. Trommel.
Mini trommel.
[Tyler] This is my first time here, but...
so far, so good.
This feels better than Bonanza to me.
It's a proven gold spot with an opportunity for investment.
[Diego groans]
[narrator] With nightfall approaching,
the team must set up camp and hit the ground running in the morning.
Oh, yeah, this is a campsite.
- [Danny] There you go. - [Parker] Look at this.
- So beautiful. Looks great. - [Danny] Yeah.
[Danny] What'd you reckon, over here?
[Parker] They've got a lot of ground here to explore,
so I'm looking forward to kind of getting our teeth into the ground side of it.
I'm on like an upward trajectory, where everything's awesome
and there's gonna be gold everywhere.
Um, but it's a bit of a bell curve, generally.
You don't wanna invest at the peak of the bell.
So we keep hunting for the negatives.
Parker.
- What? - [Danny] Cancio is here.
- Hola. - [Cancio in Spanish]
- [Parker speaking] - [Cancio in English] Parker, good morning.
[in Spanish]
Gracias.
[in English] They're from yesterday.
[in Spanish]
- [Diego in English] 103? - [Danny] Oh, yeah.
There we... Oh, look, look, that's beautifully clean, man.
That's so good. You know, these guys don't use, um, mercury.
- [Tyler] Don't they? - [Danny] No.
They just take out the big rocks...
- Yeah. - ...and they blow it.
[Danny] Look how clean he gets it. It's beautiful gold.
- Can I have a look at it? - It's so nice. Yeah, look at that, Ty.
So, it's a 103 grams,
that's, yeah, three and half ounces.
How long were they running?
[Diego in Spanish]
[in English] Seven hours of processing that ground.
[Parker] So it's like an ounce per 100 yards.
- [Tyler] Ah. - [Danny] Is that good?
Mm-hmm. It's good.
Yeah, you know, it's the same grade as we're mining in the Yukon.
- [Danny] Yeah. - The costs down here are way less.
[Danny] Right, yeah.
No permafrost, no D11s.
[chuckles] Yeah, that's it.
What pit did that come out of?
[in Spanish]
[in English] The other day we were... You were with them,
they were cleaning in, like, around the cave,
- that's where... - Got you.
[Cancio in Spanish]
[Diego in English] They're gonna be washing from other side today.
From the big deep hole in the valley?
[Diego in Spanish]
[Cancio speaking]
[narrator in English] Cancio's latest project is his most ambitious...
digging a giant 150-foot deep hole...
chasing gold hidden deep beneath the valley floor.
So far, it's cost him tens of thousands of dollars.
He doesn't go, like, full investment in it
until he's 100% sure that he reaches the level of the gold.
[Cancio in Spanish]
[in English] So, what's the biggest thing that's holding him back?
[in Spanish]
- [in English] The first factor is that he's in debt... - Yeah.
...with $230,000. So he's trying to pay the debt
by mining in an easy, faster way.
[Cancio in Spanish]
[in English] That'll come.
Diego, could you just ask him a little bit about, like,
what's keeping him going so strong?
[Cancio in Spanish]
[Diego in English] He hopes you're willing to working here
and you will be an investor.
Mm.
I was wondering if you and I could kind of get a walk around
where the dirt's coming from.
[in Spanish]
[in English] He has to leave, and he's gonna be out
for, like, three hours, approximately, but you can go with Erick...
- Sweet. - ...his son.
Well, shall we go try to find some gold?
- [Tyler] Vamonos. - [in Spanish]
- [laughs] - [in English] There's gold everywhere.
[all laugh]
[Parker] Cancio being in debt doesn't bother me.
I have more respect for somebody that goes into debt
trying to make a dream work than I do somebody that just, like, has tons of money
and is like, "Well, I'll go mining with it."
You know? Like, his ass is on the line
and that's gonna make him motivated.
[narrator] With just two days to understand the Kemci operation...
- [Tyler] Right. - Right, awesome.
[narrator] ...Parker tasks Tyler and Danny
to gauge how much it costs to run the mine site.
- Have fun. - Have fun.
- Be careful. - [Danny] And you guys--
Don't get run over.
[Diego] Guys, be careful.
[narrator] ...while Cancio's son, Erick,
takes them on a tour of the deep hole.
[in Spanish]
[Parker in English] I think that with most mining operations,
there's, like, flow and rhythm,
all that kind of stuff has to jell together.
And I haven't spent enough time here to see how that's working.
Quite the hole.
[Diego] This is really cool.
I feel tiny in here.
[Erick in Spanish]
- [Danny] Hola. - [Victor] Hola.
[Parker speaking]
[Victor speaking]
[in English] Did he... Did you dig all this?
[Diego in Spanish]
[Parker in English] Is there gonna be lots of gold at the bottom of it?
[Victor in Spanish]
[Diego in English] Yeah, there's... There's gold down there.
- To me. Yeah. - Fingers crossed.
[Parker] These are the kind of areas I've always kind of looked for,
where deep ground's never been tested.
The best ground that's still left out there,
it's gonna be, you know, the deep stuff.
So this big deep hole, it's really appealing.
[narrator] Cancio's crew attempt to follow ancient river channels...
that carry gold from the mountain down into the valley.
They hunt for bedrock,
where the highest concentration of gold should rest.
It's an expensive and time-consuming dig...
but hitting just one payload could yield thousands of ounces of gold.
[Parker] Is it weird that they're hitting,
- like, the... - [Diego] Rock there.
[Parker] ...the bedrock there and not on this side?
[Erick in Spanish]
[Diego in English] This is very unpredictable
because sometimes they're following, uh, the rock like this,
and then it turns really abruptly.
[Erick in Spanish]
[Diego in English] But they don't know how much deeper
it will continue going, you know.
[Parker] Sounds like quite the treasure hunt.
[Erick in Spanish]
[in English]
[Parker] Oh, wow. That's really good.
Uh, should we send the trucks down?
[Erick] Si.
[Parker] This material I'm loading in the truck
will get ran through the plant or...
And we'll see if they're on the gold.
Nowadays, everything's about cycle times and staying on a system
and, you know, every day kind of leading to the next.
Whereas, this reminds me of, like, the old days.
This is such a treasure hunt.
Like, they're just digging this massive hole
because on the other side of the valley, they found some decent gold,
but just... Nobody's been able to get to the bottom of this valley.
They haven't found any gold out of here yet.
But looks like Cancio's getting very close now.
Now let's see if they find any gold in it, huh?
Muchas gracias.
[in Spanish]
[in English] This is so [bleep] wild.
You know, I'll be really curious too what comes out of there.
[Parker] I'm just trying to get an idea
of, like, the size of the claim they have,
you know, the concessions they have.
[narrator] In southern Bolivia...
with the pay from the deep hole being processed...
Parker takes a tour of the rest of the Kemci claim.
And... And they have... If I understand right, they have...
If there's gold in this valley,
they can mine it from here all the way to that hill, right?
But that must be a mile.
[Erick speaking Spanish]
- [in English] Two kilometers, from here. - And their concessions
cover from where we are all the way over to there?
- [in Spanish] - [Eric] Si. Si.
- [Diego in English] Including this - [Parker] Yeah.
That's a huge amount of ground.
[Erick speaking Spanish]
[Diego in English] One of the problems have is they don't know
- how deep is the hole. - And they have to spend so much money to find out.
- [in Spanish] Si. - [Parker] Yeah.
[narrator] Over a mile long by half a mile wide,
the Kemci claim is over 400 acres.
Four time bigger than Parker mined
in his last record-breaking season in the Yukon.
You know, I have a good idea of the size of it now, which is good.
It's very big.
[Erick in Spanish]
[in English] Yeah, you have to dig a lot, but yeah,
- it's a big-- - If there's gold in this valley,
they're gonna be here a long time.
[in Spanish]
[Parker in English] Right.
[in Spanish]
[in English] The good thing would... would be to know exactly where is the gold.
Like, someone telling them the gold is here
40 minutes down there.
[in Spanish]
[Parker in English] If you can crew up this valley
on the scale that we're mining on in the Yukon
or even bigger...
that really piques my interest.
And obviously, them too, 'cause they're down there
digging in a massive [bleep] hole.
Did you look over the edge?
Crazy.
It's very, very cool.
I really wanna find out what's in the bottom of this valley.
- [Danny] Is it raining? - [Tyler] Yeah.
[Danny] Wow, did you see the lightening?
- [thunder rumbling] - There's a big storm brewing.
[narrator] While Parker gets a read on the ground...
[Tyler] All right, what's he doing?
[narrator] ...Tyler and Danny take a deeper look
into the whole operation.
[motor starts]
[Tyler] When you're gonna drop a big amount of money,
if you're going kind of just looking over the positive stuff
and not really investigating, trying to find the faults,
I think you're gonna invest blindly, which is ridiculous.
Gracias.
[narrator] There's no natural water source at the Kemci mine...
so driver, Rene, collects water from a river one mile away...
and then delivers it to a holding pond,
which feeds Cancio's wash plant.
Has he got a few pumps up there?
[Tyler] Two.
Like, there's trucks going up and down this road all day, every day...
- Yep. - [Danny] ...supplying mines with water.
Yep. It's pretty simple, isn't it?
Hey, uh, Ty.
Maybe grab the other tube for him.
- [Rene in Spanish] - [Tyler] Finito?
Perfecto.
We're done, going back in.
[thunder rumbling]
[bleep]
[engine starts]
[narrator] The truck transports 5,800 gallons of water per trip.
- [thunder roaring] - [gasps] Oh!
I'd like to know how many times he visits this mine a day.
[in Spanish]
- Aah. - [Rene] Si.
- [Danny in English] Fifteen. - Wow, okay.
One of the things Parker said is, he really wants to know about, cost.
[in Spanish]
- [in English] A hundred and ten. Si. - Bolivianos?
- Per trip? - [Danny in Spanish]
[Tyler in English] So, that a year in Bolivianos.
- [Danny] There it is. - [Tyler] It's not bad.
Nice work.
[narrator] A water delivery service like this
in the Yukon
would cost Parker 10 times more.
- [Tyler] Allright. - [Danny] Good stuff.
Just jump out.
I feel like since we've been here,
we've been kind of searching for a fault
or searching for the things that needs improvement,
which is what you need to do if you're looking at investing
in a mining operation, obviously.
- [Danny] Okay. There we go. - Perfect. All right.
[in Spanish]
[laughter]
- [Danny speaking] - Okay.
[in English] And I feel like, we're finally getting there,
ticking all those boxes.
[Rene and Tyler] Ciao.
[Tyler] I feel like, we're coming to a point,
where Parker's gonna be able to make
a very informed decision.
[rain falling]
Is this the last truck load to do?
- [Diego] Yeah. - [Parker] Si?
[narrator] At the wash plant, Parker and Diego
have spent the day
running pay dirt from the deep hole.
[motor whirring]
[Parker] What time is it now?
- [Diego] 3:23. - [speaking Spanish]
- [Diego] Yeah, they're gonna start washing the mat. - Si.
Ask him if he's nervous.
[Diego in Spanish]
[Cancio speaking]
[in English] Anxious.
More than nervous, anxious.
- [man speaking Spanish] - In the past they already have the experience
of washing a new load,
and that it was empty, no gold.
Me too.
- Hola - [Tyler] Hola.
- Where have you guys been? - Are you good?
Went in the water trucks.
Oh, oh.
Found out a lot about the water situation.
- Okay? - [Danny] You know, they're, they're not that expensive,
to hire.
- Like, 110 Bolivianos per trip. - Yeah.
- That's not too bad - [Tyler] So that's good.
[Danny] When was the last time you were this interested in the cleanup, Parker?
Years ago.
Yeah, I'm kind of nervous, actually.
For them. They've put a lot of money into that pit.
[man speaking Spanish]
- [in English] What? - [man speaking Spanish]
[Diego speaking]
[Parker in English] Oh, yeah.
[Tyler] Cool.
[Danny] Ooh, no way. Look at that.
[man speaking Spanish]
[Diego speaking]
[man speaking]
[Danny speaking English] That's a big boy.
- Nuggetini - Nuggetini.
[in Spanish]
[in English] They did hit some bedrock in the hole.
That test looked good.
There was some gold in it.
But so hard to tell at that stage.
There's definitely a lot to think about for me.
Can you ask if we can--
If they'll keep this separate?
[in Spanish]
[Diego] Si?
- Yes, yes. They can, they can. - Perfect. Yeah.
I'm really curious to see how this, how this ground works out.
[eagle screeching]
[Tyler] We're gonna get the trommel set up, which is exciting.
Could you imagine if this place was actually, another Yukon?
That's what exciting about it, it could be.
[narrator] On his last day to explore
the Kemci mine,
before they weigh the gold from the deep hole.
Can we set our trommel up down on that road?
[narrator] Parker plans to use his mini trommel,
to check the efficiency of Cancio's wash plant.
- We wanna run some of his tailings - Okay.
[narrator] Testing the pay dirt
that's already been processed to see if any gold was missed.
We'll tell him what his recovery rate is,
- and then, see if we need to make some changes. - Okay.
[Tyler] Parker's actually considering investing in this place.
But before you start thinking about investing,
you really need to do your due diligence,
and we need to do it ourselves.
So, after we're done the tests on the recovery rates,
it's gonna give us such a better picture
of how their wash plant's running,
before we think about putting money on this place.
[Parker] Right there is good.
Perfecto.
Perfecto. [laughing]
[Cancio speaking Spanish]
[in English] Can you ask him what he thinks his recovery rate is?
[in Spanish]
[Diego in English] 60%, 70%.
[bleep] Nobody wants to lose 30%.
In the Yukon, we have it down to,
you know, less than 5% losses.
[man speaking Spanish]
You want, you want them to bring it with the...
No, we have to get it right off the end of the sluice box.
'Cause the gold can concentrate up in that chute,
and where the loaders scooping,
we might not get the gold that's-- They're losing.
We have to get it right of the sluice box,
which we have to do by hand.
[Diego in Spanish]
[narrator in English] Finding gold in the tailings
would mean Cancio is literally throwing money down the drain.
[Parker] I'm about to get soaked.
- [Danny] How many of those do we need to collect? - [Parker] Twenty.
Oh, this is not gonna be fun.
That's not gonna work. You have to get it right off the sluice box,
but this is like,
[bleep] war zone in there.
What we'll do is, we'll hang buckets off of the sluice box,
and just fill them halfway.
If two people are holding the bucket
we can get it up over the edge.
[man speaking Spanish]
[Parker speaking]
- I got it. - Yeah.
[Parker] That's better.
Oh, boy.
[man] Okay.
[Parker groans]
Come. [groans]
- [laughs] - [man] Whoo!
[speaking Spanish]
[in English] He likes to see Parker working like this.
Yeah, but is he worried?
Is he excited?
[speaking Spanish]
[in English] He is worried not to cover the whole expectation
Parker, and all that he has about him, and the mine.
I knew it was going to be a pain in the ass but not this bad.
We'll do it this way.
This is definitely,
a hardcore trip, just going from elevation
to jungle, and two different countries,
and dozens of mine sites.
And you know, the clock's ticking
to make that investment decision.
Bien,it's perfect. Perfecto.
[groans]
[Danny] Look like a real man.
I don't feel like a real man.
He told me that, you said that it's over.
[Parker] That was [bleep] terrible.
That whole process sucked.
In the Yukon when we do this, we just walk an excavator up to the plant,
hold it under the sluice runs.
Catch in the excavator bucket full of dirt,
walk it over to where you're sluicing it.
Bob was not our uncle today.
Some jackass was our uncle.
And he kicked our ass.
[narrator] With a yard of tailings from the wash plant collected
[Parker] More, more, more, right there.
Oh, un momento, we gotta start everything up.
[narrator] The team run the material through the test trommel.
[motor whirring]
Our trommel's got 95 kind of percentage recovery rate.
So, this will gives us a really good test.
We're just gonna run the tailings,
and test that and see how much they're losing.
Why don't we get the loader closer, so it's right there?
Up and closer?
That's better.
There we go.
- Now we're talking. - [Danny] There you go, number one.
- [Tyler] Bucket one in. - [Danny] Number one in the tailing.
[Tyler] I think, the biggest thing I've learned
from this trip,
is that you don't grow in your comfort zone.
South America pushed me so far out of that comfort zone
in so many ways.
And I think, I'm a better person for it, and a better miner for it.
That was bucket two?
All right, bucket three.
Nice.
We're clanking.
I knew it was gonna be
tough, and it was gonna be hard.
But on the adventure front,
this has been one of the best trips I've ever been on.
The fact that we're here now,
I think, is actually, quite incredible.
This step we have to feed a little slower
'cause there's a lot of fines in it.
[speaking Spanish]
I think, mining is really interesting, it's exciting.
The whole trip has been way more than I was expecting.
I don't know if I could call it a gold fever.
Because I feel like, if it was a gold fever I would quit.
Being a doctor, and start mining,
and that's something I'm not willing to do.
But I think, it was a really fulfilling trip.
Last one.
That's it.
[motor turns off]
The loaders can go. Yes.
We're done.
[engine revving]
[Tyler groans]
[Parker] All right, that's good. That's good.
[Danny] Here it is.
Juicy concentrate.
- To Cancio. - [all] To Cancio.
[laughter]
I'm [bleep] parched. I need a water.
Can you take this to Cancio? I'll be right behind you.
- [rain falling] - [Parker] Oh, water's coming.
- [Danny] Right. - Look at my timing.
[Parker] I don't have the confidence level
that I would normally have
but it should be a fairly good representation.
I hope we're gonna find out
that they're not losing much gold.
[Diego] Cancio.
[in Spanish]
[Cancio speaking]
[Tyler in English] This is a cool panning technique.
Swish, swish, out. Swish, swish, out.
Where did you learn to pan?
[in Spanish]
[in English] Here, everyday.
[in Spanish]
[Tyler speaking]
[Cancio speaking]
[in English] Even at my mine site, you'll find more than that.
- It's a good thing. - [Diego in Spanish]
It's good. Like, finding gold in tailings is not a good thing.
[in Spanish]
[in English] So it's good we didn't find anything.
[Tyler] We've had a big day today.
It was us just running their tailings
to see how much gold they were losing.
And we found[bleep] all.
It means they're recovery rate's pretty good.
Um, do you wanna ask if he'll
show us the gold tomorrow from the big deep hole?
- and tell us how much it weighed? - Si.
Let's go.
[Diego in Spanish]
- [Cancio] Hasta manana. - Muchas gracias.
[Parker in English] What I keep really coming back to,
is if that whole valley has pay at the bottom.
It's good, and worth doing that overburn.
There's decades of mining here
on a very large scale.
So, that's a very unique opportunity.
Cancio's a gambler, and I like the idea of gambling with him.
[Danny] This is quite a big moment in our,
in our journey, isn't it?
So much has happened.
Like, we're here now.
And I mean, the big thing is like,
Cancio's gambling on what's down in that valley.
I'm so tempted to join him,
but it's like really easy to be risk averse.
[Danny] But gold mining's gambling.
I know that definitely.
If you don't risk, you don't win.
As soon as you say, yes, I feel like,
I would always be a really active owner
in whatever I'm involved in.
Like, this is a long way from home.
[Danny] It is a long way from home,
but the Yukon is on a sand timer,
and you've gotta move away from the Yukon.
- That's a, that's a given. - 100%.
I would like to think, it wouldn't be
money down the toilet,
spent with him.
Well we should go meet with him tomorrow,
- and see what he wants to do? - Yeah.
- Cheers, guys. - [Tyler laughs] Cheers, team.
Good work.
[upbeat instrumental music playing]
- Where did Cancio say to meet him, his house? - Yep.
[narrator] After eight weeks on the road--
Well, lots to talk about.
[narrator] ...Parker's South American gold hunt is coming to an end.
So, what's your read on Cancio?
I mean, I feel like, you can trust him.
They, they feel like, an honest bunch of guys.
I don't get any kind of dodgy vibes from them.
Me neither. I just, I just don't.
But yeah, I agree. My gut says they're good people
but you know, the gold game does weird things to people
but you can't always worry about that.
You just kind of have to go with information you're given.
I mean, are you thinking about investing with him?
- Yeah. - [Danny] What's holding you?
- Sussing out somebody's integrity is-- - Takes some time.
- It's an experience game, right? - [Danny] Yeah.
You can't do that over the course of a day or two, I think.
I'd like to think that Cancio's a good guy,
- that's honest. - Yeah.
But also something that I think you should be keeping mind
is the potential of the terrain, right.
And they still have like, what, 400 hectares?
The size of a claim block doesn't mean jack [bleep]
- Like, there has to be gold there, you know. - Mm-hmm.
Like, if the valley doesn't pan out, then he doesn't have much.
Lots to consider.
Yeah, I know.
[Danny] Ooh, I smell barbeque.
Wow, look at that.
[narrator] After one month, and 1,000s of dollars invested
in digging the deep hole.
[Cancio and Parker in Spanish]
[Tyler] What's up?
[Cancio in Spanish]
[narrator in English] It's time for Parker to see
if Cancio's gamble has paid off.
[Tyler] Oh, wow.
[Parker] We took such a long trip,
it all led us to here,
to Cancio.
It's time for me to start taking some gambles, and taking some risks.
Like adapt or die, right?
[Cancio in Spanish]
- [in English] Can they weigh the-- - [Parker in Spanish]
[man speaking]
[Cancio speaking]
- [Diego in English] 331.8 grams. - [Danny] Oh, wow.
[Parker] That's really good.
[narrator] At an ounce per 60 yard--
[Tyler] That's five ounces yeah?
[narrator] This ground is nearly twice as rich as Parker's Yukon claim.
[Tyler] Oh, there's a nugget in there.
[thunder rumbling]
Should we go chat somewhere, where there's no rain?
- Si. - [laughter]
Maybe a few cervezas?
- Okay... - [in Spanish] [laughter]
[Cancio speaking]
[Parker in English] There's really good gold in the ground.
It's obviously gonna be super deep.
But if the ground's good enough,
you know, it's doable.
[in Spanish]
[Diego in English] Welcoming Parker.
[in Spanish]
[Diego in English] For Tyler, for Diego, for Danny.
[Danny] Yes.
[man in Spanish]
[Cancio speaking]
[in English] It's, it's beautiful.
[man in Spanish]
[laughter]
[in English] When it's done, they have another room,
- and they're gonna invite you here. - [Parker] Perfect.
- [Cancio laughs] - Perfecto.
[Cancio] Perfecto.
[speaking Spanish]
[Diego in English] And they were speaking together,
of how they would like to have you here.
Working with them, or teaching them something,
or maybe investing with them or something like that.
[in Spanish]
[Diego in English] What else would you like to know?
- [in Spanish] - [in English] Um--
Well, I just was thinking about the, um, gold that we did.
My main curiosity is,
if that whole valley is gonna be economical to mine.
[in Spanish]
Right.
- But it's expensive. - [Diego in Spanish]
Like what has he spent on that cut they're--
The deep one in the valley.
[Diego in Spanish]
[laughter]
[man speaking]
[laughs]
[Diego speaking]
25,000 on that pit, that we were looking at, right?
- [Diego in Spanish] - Mm-hmm.
Um...
What-- What I want to propose,
is just like, it's very simple.
It's a short term deal that hopefully will lead to more in the future.
If they've spent $25,000 dollars so far on that pit,
and they still have further to go,
um, I'd like to split the cost with them,
and put up $25,000 dollars
[Diego in Spanish]
[Parker in English] If they find lots of gold, then we split it,
and if he finds nothing we're both [bleep]
And hopefully, it leads to something bigger.
Or it just leads to us crying into the beer one night,
- when I come back to check on how it's going. - [laughs]
[in Spanish]
- [Diego in English] Thank you. - [in Spanish]
[in English] So, does he wanna do it?
[in Spanish]
[Diego in English] Obviously.
[laughter]
Sounds like a deal.
[Diego in Spanish]
- [Cancio speaking] - Perfecto.
[Diego] Perfecto.
[in English] And I hope this helps, and I hope this leads
to not only more business, but more, like, a deeper friendship.
[Cancio in Spanish]
[Parker in English] I will.
So, this is the down payment.
[laughs]
[in Spanish]
[applauding]
[Parker speaking]
- [Cancio speaking] - [laughter]
Oh...
The reactions were so moving.
There was just tears all round,
and you could just tell how much that money means to them.
I'm from a gold mining family, and I know exactly what it's like,
to be finding no gold, to have the stress of our bills not being paid.
To see my dad go through so much financial pressure
from there being just no gold.
[voice breaks] Oh, so to see, and to help him is like, really special.
Danny. [laughs]
[Danny] After just such an arduous
and tough trip, to finish it off like this
is nothing short of incredible.
Parker does not invest with people lightly.
And then, I think, you know, what we've just seen now
is a, is a really just a special moment
of two really cool people coming together.
I'm excited.
[Diego in Spanish]
[in English] I'm so curious what's down there.
[Diego in Spanish]
And I feel like, it was a really, really nice, uh, moment to share with them.
They're, they're just really nice people,
and I'm happy that they made the deal.
[both] Cheers.
[Cancio in Spanish]
[man speaking]
[in English] A really crazy and interesting week for them.
- I bet. - [laughter]
[Parker] Being able to meet Cancio and his family
and the people that work there,
it's a special thing.
- Well, that's really good. Yep. - [Cancio chuckles]
[Parker] Cancio is obviously the type of guy
that's gonna spend every last penny he has digging that hole.
So, you know, that's not my last $25,000
but it might have been his.
It's good. I actually can't wait to come back,
and find out how it goes.
I have, you know, had a very busy year, um,
I need to go home,
and get refreshed. Get recharged.
Come back down here, and um,
hopefully, get a big sack of gold,
and double down.