1 00:00:06,827 --> 00:00:08,413 [Sarge] Guys, guys, guys. 2 00:00:08,448 --> 00:00:11,482 I've got reports of swallowing levers, I've got reports of flash flooding. 3 00:00:11,517 --> 00:00:14,241 We need to bag out and bag out now, so pack your [bleep]. 4 00:00:14,275 --> 00:00:15,517 Put your foot on the gas 5 00:00:15,551 --> 00:00:16,724 and let's get the hell out of here. 6 00:00:16,758 --> 00:00:18,689 Right now. This is not a discussion. 7 00:00:18,724 --> 00:00:20,413 - Thanks, Sarge. - [Sarge] Let's go. 8 00:00:20,448 --> 00:00:23,344 - [Parker] Okay. - [Dan] We need to get the [bleep] out of here now. 9 00:00:25,620 --> 00:00:27,310 Give it some. Let's go, go, go. 10 00:00:29,896 --> 00:00:31,827 [Tyler] The closest town is on evacuation watch. 11 00:00:31,862 --> 00:00:35,482 An alert has been sent out for them to get ready to evacuate. 12 00:00:35,517 --> 00:00:37,758 [Jeff] Look at the water across the road. Holy [bleep]. 13 00:00:38,793 --> 00:00:40,103 [Tyler] Okay. 14 00:00:40,137 --> 00:00:42,620 [Dan] Uh, we're driving in a river. 15 00:00:42,655 --> 00:00:44,482 Do we have an escape route? 16 00:00:45,068 --> 00:00:46,689 Oh, my [bleeping]. 17 00:01:08,655 --> 00:01:10,965 Ty, when I'm here before you, 18 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:13,482 - you know you're [bleeping] up. - Late. 19 00:01:13,517 --> 00:01:17,344 So you can give me [bleep], you can give me [bleep], you cannot. 20 00:01:17,379 --> 00:01:19,655 I've worked here every morning since we got here. 21 00:01:20,344 --> 00:01:21,586 Danny, Jeff, I'm really sorry. 22 00:01:21,620 --> 00:01:23,620 No, I don't give a [bleep]. 23 00:01:23,655 --> 00:01:25,310 We're allowed to be late once in awhile, right? 24 00:01:25,965 --> 00:01:26,965 [Parker] Let's go. 25 00:01:29,379 --> 00:01:31,482 [narrator] Twenty-seven year old Parker Schnabel 26 00:01:31,517 --> 00:01:35,448 is expanding his goldmining operation. 27 00:01:35,482 --> 00:01:39,172 He's on the hunt for a state of the art wash plant in New Zealand, 28 00:01:40,862 --> 00:01:44,172 capable of securing him a multi-million dollar pay out 29 00:01:44,206 --> 00:01:47,724 on his new claim in Alaska. 30 00:01:47,758 --> 00:01:51,137 [Parker] Unfortunately, there's no college class or degree 31 00:01:51,172 --> 00:01:54,206 for wash plant design and efficiency. 32 00:01:54,241 --> 00:01:56,689 We have to go out and find the people that have pioneered 33 00:01:56,724 --> 00:01:59,206 the technology and develop these ideas. 34 00:01:59,241 --> 00:02:01,482 You know, New Zealand's full of them. 35 00:02:01,517 --> 00:02:02,793 We just have to go hunt them down. 36 00:02:04,586 --> 00:02:07,793 [Tyler] So we're going to see a man named Eddie. 37 00:02:07,827 --> 00:02:10,275 He's pretty well known in these parts. He builds wash plants. 38 00:02:10,310 --> 00:02:11,655 - Eddie Gray. - Eddie Gray. 39 00:02:11,689 --> 00:02:14,586 Yeah, the Gray brothers. They're well known everywhere. 40 00:02:14,620 --> 00:02:16,137 You've heard of him before, Parker? 41 00:02:16,172 --> 00:02:17,137 [Parker] Yeah. 42 00:02:22,034 --> 00:02:23,551 - Well, that's amazing. - [Parker] Yeah. 43 00:02:23,586 --> 00:02:25,655 [Tyler] Well, we're going to the right place then, aren't we? 44 00:02:29,862 --> 00:02:32,241 [narrator] From the central Tasman region, 45 00:02:32,275 --> 00:02:35,965 the team head 150 miles south to Greymouth 46 00:02:36,965 --> 00:02:39,724 to the legendary Gray brothers workshop. 47 00:02:45,344 --> 00:02:46,827 [Dan] Gray brothers. There we go. 48 00:02:51,413 --> 00:02:52,931 Are you excited about this one, Jeff? 49 00:02:52,965 --> 00:02:55,620 [Jeff] Yeah, totally. I've never met him, so this will be really cool. 50 00:02:55,655 --> 00:02:58,827 [Dan] Wow, big old workshop. 51 00:02:58,862 --> 00:03:01,689 [narrator] Goldminer and engineer Eddie Gray 52 00:03:01,724 --> 00:03:07,034 has over 40 years' experience making and selling wash plants all over the world 53 00:03:07,068 --> 00:03:09,448 including the Yukon. 54 00:03:09,482 --> 00:03:13,931 To date, his workshop has made over 100 different plants 55 00:03:13,965 --> 00:03:16,758 for some of the best goldminers on the planet. 56 00:03:19,551 --> 00:03:20,551 [Eddie] Hi. How's you go? 57 00:03:21,655 --> 00:03:23,000 - Hi. Tyler. - Hi, how are you? 58 00:03:23,034 --> 00:03:24,206 - Jeff. - How's it go? 59 00:03:24,241 --> 00:03:25,413 [Jeff] Nice to meet you. 60 00:03:25,448 --> 00:03:27,482 - Parker. - Parker. How you going? I've seen you before. 61 00:03:27,517 --> 00:03:29,655 Quite an impressive workshop you've got. 62 00:03:29,689 --> 00:03:30,862 Yeah, it's pretty good. 63 00:03:30,896 --> 00:03:33,413 We built it all around mining. Coal mining, gold mining. 64 00:03:33,448 --> 00:03:36,448 Well, I mean, you guys, you know, New Zealanders have always had 65 00:03:36,482 --> 00:03:38,482 some of the best mining equipment. 66 00:03:38,517 --> 00:03:39,896 - That's why we're here. - Yeah. 67 00:03:39,931 --> 00:03:42,413 - [Eddie laughs] - [Parker] Learn from the best, right? 68 00:03:42,448 --> 00:03:44,275 [narrator] Eddie's crew of 35 69 00:03:44,310 --> 00:03:46,586 take on average 12 weeks 70 00:03:46,620 --> 00:03:49,068 to build a custom plant from scratch. 71 00:03:49,103 --> 00:03:52,241 Parker's looking for one design in particular. 72 00:03:52,275 --> 00:03:54,482 [Parker] Some of the ground that we're looking at in Alaska, 73 00:03:54,517 --> 00:03:56,689 it does have some clay in it. 74 00:03:56,724 --> 00:04:00,000 The nice thing about a trommel is it can do everything. 75 00:04:00,034 --> 00:04:01,517 - Right? - [Eddie] Yeah. 76 00:04:01,551 --> 00:04:03,758 Part of the reason why I'm on this trip is to figure out 77 00:04:03,793 --> 00:04:05,344 if we wanna get a trommel or not. 78 00:04:05,379 --> 00:04:06,965 The more basic, the better. 79 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:11,103 [narrator] Trommels break up coal rich paydirt by rotating a steel drum 80 00:04:11,137 --> 00:04:14,448 and blasting the material with high pressure water. 81 00:04:14,482 --> 00:04:18,931 Making them the best at separating fine gold from sticky clay. 82 00:04:18,965 --> 00:04:21,689 A problem on Parker's new claim. 83 00:04:21,724 --> 00:04:23,034 [Parker] The barrels for the trommel, 84 00:04:23,068 --> 00:04:25,724 - you'll roll those yourselves. - We'll roll them, yeah. 85 00:04:25,758 --> 00:04:27,827 There's a real art in getting your trommel right. 86 00:04:27,862 --> 00:04:31,034 You can see they got their welding stations all nicely set up. 87 00:04:31,068 --> 00:04:33,482 This stuff right here, uh, on that steel, 88 00:04:33,517 --> 00:04:34,931 is becoming hard to get. 89 00:04:34,965 --> 00:04:36,551 Good to see they got lots of stock. 90 00:04:36,586 --> 00:04:39,000 It's awesome. It's nice to be across the world 91 00:04:39,034 --> 00:04:41,000 and see that they're doing the same thing. 92 00:04:41,034 --> 00:04:42,517 And I know they do good work here 93 00:04:42,551 --> 00:04:44,862 because we have a good working relationship with them 94 00:04:44,896 --> 00:04:47,068 and there's quite a bit of history. 95 00:04:47,103 --> 00:04:49,689 Um, so yeah, it's good to see. I'm definitely stoked. 96 00:04:49,724 --> 00:04:51,482 [Tyler] I am so intrigued by this. 97 00:04:51,517 --> 00:04:52,965 - This whole machine. - Yeah. 98 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:55,517 - [Tyler] What is it? - [Ali] Well, they call it a plasma cutter. 99 00:04:55,551 --> 00:04:57,137 Oh, wicked. Are you firing it up now? 100 00:04:57,172 --> 00:04:58,896 Yeah, I am. Just about to start. 101 00:04:58,931 --> 00:05:01,482 - You can watch if you want. - That is right up my alley. 102 00:05:01,517 --> 00:05:02,758 Am I all right standing here? 103 00:05:02,793 --> 00:05:03,862 Yeah, you're all right, bro. 104 00:05:07,137 --> 00:05:08,103 Oh, [bleep]. 105 00:05:10,827 --> 00:05:12,241 Bloody hell. 106 00:05:12,275 --> 00:05:13,655 Get out the way. 107 00:05:13,689 --> 00:05:16,689 [narrator] At 45,000 degrees Fahrenheit, 108 00:05:16,724 --> 00:05:21,793 this plasma cutter burns four and a half times hotter than the surface of the sun 109 00:05:21,827 --> 00:05:24,241 and can cut through steel 2 inches thick. 110 00:05:24,827 --> 00:05:25,862 [Dan] Oh, my [bleep]. 111 00:05:25,896 --> 00:05:28,034 - It's pretty aggressive, isn't it? - [Ali] Yeah. 112 00:05:28,068 --> 00:05:30,413 [Dan] There you go. It's a beautiful looking thing. 113 00:05:32,827 --> 00:05:35,413 - It's cool to finally come here and, like, meet you guys. - [Eddie] Oh, it's great. 114 00:05:35,448 --> 00:05:39,379 We've been thinking that we might try to buy a plant if we can find one 115 00:05:39,413 --> 00:05:40,517 in the country. 116 00:05:40,551 --> 00:05:41,689 You could've, um... 117 00:05:42,620 --> 00:05:43,827 Sold a screen a couple of weeks ago. 118 00:05:44,620 --> 00:05:45,724 Well, did you have one sitting? 119 00:05:45,758 --> 00:05:47,689 Yeah, we had some sitting here. Yeah. 120 00:05:47,724 --> 00:05:50,241 How long ago? Before you had a couple of machines here 121 00:05:50,275 --> 00:05:53,103 that could've just been taken straight out of the door? 122 00:05:53,137 --> 00:05:54,793 - Two, three weeks ago. - [Tyler] Oh. 123 00:05:54,827 --> 00:05:56,103 It's always the way it works, though. 124 00:05:56,137 --> 00:05:58,655 Timing. Two weeks. 125 00:05:58,689 --> 00:06:03,137 And the place was just full of gold screw trommels, gold screens and... 126 00:06:03,172 --> 00:06:04,862 So here we're... we're pretty flat out. 127 00:06:04,896 --> 00:06:06,793 [Tyler] That would've been good to see. 128 00:06:06,827 --> 00:06:08,379 When you don't need it, and they're everywhere 129 00:06:08,413 --> 00:06:10,931 - and when you need one, they're all gone. - [Eddie] Yeah. 130 00:06:10,965 --> 00:06:13,310 Well, one of my mates got a flat to sell. 131 00:06:14,068 --> 00:06:14,931 Who's that? 132 00:06:14,965 --> 00:06:17,103 Allan Birchfield is a good friend of mine. 133 00:06:17,137 --> 00:06:20,931 I've heard of the Birchfields, I've never met any of them, though. 134 00:06:20,965 --> 00:06:22,758 [Eddie] They've been miners for generations on the West Coast. 135 00:06:22,793 --> 00:06:25,448 And they've built, um, about gold screens 136 00:06:25,482 --> 00:06:26,689 for three generations of that family. 137 00:06:26,724 --> 00:06:27,586 Oh, wow. 138 00:06:27,620 --> 00:06:30,172 He's got a machine for sale. 139 00:06:30,206 --> 00:06:31,793 If you wanna give Tony Beets a go, 140 00:06:31,827 --> 00:06:33,620 that'd be the machine to have a look at. 141 00:06:33,655 --> 00:06:36,379 - Well, we should go have a look at it then. - [Eddie] Yeah. 142 00:06:36,413 --> 00:06:38,172 Eddie has suggested the Birchfields 143 00:06:38,206 --> 00:06:40,344 and yeah, they're a huge name around here. 144 00:06:40,379 --> 00:06:43,379 I've heard whispers of them. 145 00:06:43,413 --> 00:06:47,862 Eddie gave us the address and has given Allan a heads up that we're gonna head over. 146 00:06:47,896 --> 00:06:50,827 So I'm excited to go and see Allan and see what he has to offer. 147 00:06:56,137 --> 00:06:58,482 [narrator] Hot on the trail of Eddie's lead, 148 00:06:58,517 --> 00:07:02,482 the team follow the Grey River 20 miles northeast 149 00:07:02,517 --> 00:07:04,448 towards the town of Ngahere 150 00:07:04,482 --> 00:07:07,931 to the highly successful Birchfield family claim. 151 00:07:11,793 --> 00:07:14,206 This weather's pretty awful, mate. 152 00:07:14,241 --> 00:07:15,482 It's horrible. 153 00:07:15,517 --> 00:07:17,862 I feel like the mass of the rain has finally hit as well. 154 00:07:17,896 --> 00:07:19,275 Look how high the river is. 155 00:07:19,310 --> 00:07:21,448 [Tyler] Yeah, there's flood warnings all around us. 156 00:07:22,379 --> 00:07:23,482 Very high. 157 00:07:24,827 --> 00:07:26,137 I see a right hand turn here. 158 00:07:27,551 --> 00:07:28,862 [Tyler] Is this it? 159 00:07:28,896 --> 00:07:30,034 - Maybe. - Yeah. 160 00:07:30,068 --> 00:07:31,172 Do it. 161 00:07:31,206 --> 00:07:33,379 - [Jeff] Do it? - [Tyler] Looks like we're leaving 162 00:07:33,413 --> 00:07:34,896 any form of main road. 163 00:07:37,586 --> 00:07:38,482 [Dan] Oh. Go on, Jeff. 164 00:07:41,551 --> 00:07:42,965 Wowee. [bleep] Hello. 165 00:07:43,758 --> 00:07:44,931 [Dan whistles] 166 00:07:49,413 --> 00:07:50,896 [Jeff] What is this? 167 00:07:50,931 --> 00:07:52,379 [Tyler] That's a bridge. 168 00:07:52,413 --> 00:07:54,620 We're not gonna fit... Oh, my [bleep]. That thing's frickin' rickity. 169 00:07:54,655 --> 00:07:56,448 [Dan] You're not driving through that. 170 00:07:56,482 --> 00:07:57,793 Then how are we supposed to get through? 171 00:07:59,241 --> 00:08:00,310 [Jeff] How do we get around this? 172 00:08:00,344 --> 00:08:01,655 We're gonna take the whole roof off. 173 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:06,000 [Tyler] Um... 174 00:08:07,689 --> 00:08:08,724 Go down there. 175 00:08:08,758 --> 00:08:10,344 - [Tyler] I don't know. - [Jeff] Let's try this. 176 00:08:10,379 --> 00:08:11,655 - [Dan] Are you going for it, Jeff? - [Tyler] Is it safe? 177 00:08:11,689 --> 00:08:13,172 [Jeff] I don't know. It's our only shot. 178 00:08:13,206 --> 00:08:15,103 Danny, do you think that's safe? 179 00:08:15,137 --> 00:08:16,413 [Dan] Do you reckon... I don't know. Hang on. 180 00:08:16,448 --> 00:08:17,931 - Stop there for a sec. - [Tyler] Yeah, just... 181 00:08:17,965 --> 00:08:19,344 [Dan] Let's have a look at it. 182 00:08:19,379 --> 00:08:21,172 [Tyler] Parker, get out and walk through it. See how deep it is. 183 00:08:21,206 --> 00:08:23,793 You, Tyler. You're the rain expert. 184 00:08:23,827 --> 00:08:24,862 [all laughing] 185 00:08:24,896 --> 00:08:25,827 Let's just do it. 186 00:08:25,862 --> 00:08:27,310 - [Parker] Go. - Are you gonna slam it? 187 00:08:27,344 --> 00:08:30,275 - You ready? Yeah, I am. - No, don't [bleep] go psycho. 188 00:08:30,310 --> 00:08:31,689 Oh, my [bleeping]. 189 00:08:32,379 --> 00:08:33,517 Oh, [bleeping]. 190 00:08:41,862 --> 00:08:42,758 [Dan] Whoa! 191 00:08:42,793 --> 00:08:44,551 [Jeff] That was pretty deep. 192 00:08:44,586 --> 00:08:45,758 [all laughing] 193 00:08:45,793 --> 00:08:46,758 [Tyler] Oh. 194 00:08:46,793 --> 00:08:48,103 [Dan] That was great. 195 00:08:49,137 --> 00:08:50,172 Good job. 196 00:08:52,241 --> 00:08:54,137 [Jeff] Holy [bleep]. 197 00:08:54,172 --> 00:08:55,551 Look at the size of that. 198 00:08:55,586 --> 00:08:57,000 [Dan] That isn't a dredge. 199 00:08:57,551 --> 00:08:59,172 Yeah, it is. 200 00:08:59,206 --> 00:09:01,103 - That is huge. - [Jeff] That's huge. 201 00:09:01,137 --> 00:09:03,620 [Dan] It looks like a massive big building. 202 00:09:03,655 --> 00:09:05,344 It's a big floating building. 203 00:09:05,379 --> 00:09:08,172 - Holy [bleep]. - How do they even float that? 204 00:09:08,206 --> 00:09:11,068 [narrator] Parker and his crew are meeting Allan Birchfield, 205 00:09:11,103 --> 00:09:14,689 the owner of a 90-year-old supersize dredge. 206 00:09:14,724 --> 00:09:17,689 At 3,850 tons, 207 00:09:17,724 --> 00:09:20,965 it's the largest bucket lined dredge in the world. 208 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:23,724 [Tyler] I've never seen a dredge that big ever. 209 00:09:24,620 --> 00:09:27,413 [Dan] Gees. It's a monster. 210 00:09:30,103 --> 00:09:31,620 What do you wanna do? 211 00:09:31,655 --> 00:09:33,862 Do you wanna go with me, Dan, and we'll go see if they're here? 212 00:09:33,896 --> 00:09:35,310 Yeah. 213 00:09:35,344 --> 00:09:36,862 - Should we wait here? - [Dan] Yeah, wait here for the time being. 214 00:09:36,896 --> 00:09:38,482 We'll just see if... 215 00:09:38,517 --> 00:09:39,724 Go find him first. 216 00:09:39,758 --> 00:09:41,655 - Okay, cool. - And then we'll give you a shout, yeah? 217 00:09:41,689 --> 00:09:42,655 - Yeah. Okay. - Cool. 218 00:09:42,689 --> 00:09:43,896 We'll be here. 219 00:09:44,931 --> 00:09:45,965 [Dan exclaims] 220 00:09:47,137 --> 00:09:49,344 [Dan] Good grief. 221 00:09:49,379 --> 00:09:51,793 That's insane. 222 00:09:51,827 --> 00:09:54,206 [laughs] Hope we're not trespassing. 223 00:09:58,000 --> 00:09:59,137 Quite the maze. 224 00:09:59,655 --> 00:10:01,000 This thing's huge. 225 00:10:01,034 --> 00:10:02,103 Hello? 226 00:10:03,655 --> 00:10:06,000 [Dan] Mate, it feels like something out of Lord of the Rings. 227 00:10:07,034 --> 00:10:07,827 [Parker] Hello? 228 00:10:10,896 --> 00:10:13,275 You could get lost in this place. 229 00:10:13,310 --> 00:10:16,482 [Parker] This makes Tony Beets' dredges look like pocket toys. 230 00:10:16,517 --> 00:10:17,827 [Dan laughs] 231 00:10:17,862 --> 00:10:20,689 I feel like we should stay here until he gives us the okay. 232 00:10:20,724 --> 00:10:22,758 Yeah. That makes sense. 233 00:10:28,482 --> 00:10:29,275 Hello? 234 00:10:35,448 --> 00:10:36,689 [narrator] Coming up... 235 00:10:36,724 --> 00:10:37,793 [bleeping] 236 00:10:37,827 --> 00:10:39,103 [Jeff] Holy [bleep]. 237 00:10:39,137 --> 00:10:40,344 [man speaking] 238 00:10:41,586 --> 00:10:43,034 [Tyler] I'm literally standing on gold. 239 00:10:43,068 --> 00:10:45,103 Parker, you'd have done good, mate. 240 00:10:45,137 --> 00:10:47,000 - [Parker] Oh. - [Tyler] You gotta be happy with that. 241 00:10:56,965 --> 00:10:59,172 [Parker] Hello? 242 00:10:59,206 --> 00:11:03,379 [narrator] In New Zealand, south of the Paparoa National Park, 243 00:11:03,413 --> 00:11:08,862 Parker and his crew are exploring a wash plant for his Alaskan operation, 244 00:11:08,896 --> 00:11:11,241 but the owner is nowhere to be found. 245 00:11:14,137 --> 00:11:15,103 Hello? 246 00:11:18,206 --> 00:11:20,241 [Allan] Uppo. Up here! 247 00:11:20,275 --> 00:11:22,379 [Parker] Ah, hi! How do we get up there? 248 00:11:22,413 --> 00:11:23,655 [Allan] Up those stairs over there. 249 00:11:24,758 --> 00:11:25,896 He didn't have a gun, did he? 250 00:11:25,931 --> 00:11:26,896 [Parker] No. 251 00:11:28,413 --> 00:11:29,413 [Tyler] I don't like it. 252 00:11:30,517 --> 00:11:31,482 - [tapping on window] - [bleep] 253 00:11:31,517 --> 00:11:33,206 - [Tyler] Hello. - [Ian speaking] 254 00:11:33,241 --> 00:11:34,103 I'm Tyler. 255 00:11:34,137 --> 00:11:35,758 [Ian speaking] 256 00:11:35,793 --> 00:11:37,000 - [Jeff] Sure. - Yeah. Sure. 257 00:11:37,034 --> 00:11:39,827 Holy, it was [bleeping]. 258 00:11:39,862 --> 00:11:42,206 - I'm Parker. - Parker? Allan. G'day. 259 00:11:42,241 --> 00:11:43,689 - [Dan] Nice to meet you, mate. - [Allan] Good. 260 00:11:43,724 --> 00:11:45,655 Um, Eddie Gray sent us. 261 00:11:45,689 --> 00:11:49,172 He mentioned that you might have a wash plant that's for sale. 262 00:11:49,206 --> 00:11:50,620 Well, unless you count this one. 263 00:11:50,655 --> 00:11:51,724 [Parker] This one? 264 00:11:52,689 --> 00:11:55,137 [laughs] This thing is so huge. 265 00:11:55,172 --> 00:11:57,413 So is this thing, like, actually for sale? 266 00:11:57,448 --> 00:11:59,000 [Allan] Oh, a deal could be done. 267 00:11:59,034 --> 00:12:00,551 [Parker] Gotcha. 268 00:12:00,586 --> 00:12:04,517 [narrator] Owned by Allan Birchfield and his family for over 30 years, 269 00:12:04,551 --> 00:12:07,862 the huge Canary dredge has the capacity to churn 270 00:12:07,896 --> 00:12:10,000 through the gold-rich flood plains 271 00:12:10,034 --> 00:12:12,206 of the Grey River in record time. 272 00:12:13,793 --> 00:12:16,034 The 300-foot long bucket line 273 00:12:16,068 --> 00:12:20,379 scoops up 1,000 cubic yards of pay an hour. 274 00:12:20,413 --> 00:12:24,275 And deposits it into the 12-foot wide trommel 275 00:12:24,310 --> 00:12:28,034 where 10,000 gallons of water per minute washes the dirt 276 00:12:28,068 --> 00:12:29,758 and freeze the gold. 277 00:12:31,068 --> 00:12:34,344 Since it was first run in 1932, 278 00:12:34,379 --> 00:12:38,551 the dredge has mined close to 400,000 ounces of gold 279 00:12:38,586 --> 00:12:42,896 worth nearly $700 million in today's money. 280 00:12:42,931 --> 00:12:45,793 Do you have time to show us around? Is that all right? 281 00:12:45,827 --> 00:12:46,931 Yep. Look around here. 282 00:12:50,655 --> 00:12:51,827 You can get in if you want. 283 00:12:52,517 --> 00:12:53,931 [Dan] Standing in a trommel. 284 00:12:53,965 --> 00:12:55,517 This is mad. 285 00:12:55,551 --> 00:12:57,482 [Allan] It's a thousand of those panels in there. 286 00:12:57,517 --> 00:13:00,793 We run the same design, but in our screen decks. 287 00:13:00,827 --> 00:13:02,758 - [Allan] Yeah. - But like with the pegs and everything. 288 00:13:02,793 --> 00:13:06,344 Yep. Plus you're pumping 10,000 gallons a minute 289 00:13:06,379 --> 00:13:08,206 - out of this thing here. - In this. 290 00:13:08,241 --> 00:13:09,586 Yeah. 291 00:13:09,620 --> 00:13:11,862 Wild. Very big trommel. 292 00:13:12,862 --> 00:13:14,896 I've never seen a trommel that big. 293 00:13:14,931 --> 00:13:17,103 - [Dan] Really cool. - [Parker] Yeah, unreal. 294 00:13:17,137 --> 00:13:20,862 Like, it's really, really cool. Super interesting. 295 00:13:20,896 --> 00:13:23,034 [Allan] Well, it did work perfectly. 296 00:13:23,068 --> 00:13:24,551 - Well, not perfectly, but... - [Parker] Yeah. 297 00:13:24,586 --> 00:13:25,689 - You know. - It did its job. 298 00:13:25,724 --> 00:13:27,344 Yeah, okay. It did its job. 299 00:13:27,379 --> 00:13:28,344 [both laughing] 300 00:13:29,620 --> 00:13:32,206 With quite a bit of defect. 301 00:13:32,241 --> 00:13:34,206 [Chris] You guys wanna see something cool? Have a look over here. 302 00:13:34,241 --> 00:13:35,862 [Tyler] Oh, wow. 303 00:13:35,896 --> 00:13:39,586 [narrator] Tyler and Jeff are joined by former dredge master Ian 304 00:13:39,620 --> 00:13:41,206 and Allan's son, Chris. 305 00:13:41,241 --> 00:13:43,413 - [Jeff] Crazy. - [Tyler] Holy [bleep]. Look at them all. 306 00:13:43,448 --> 00:13:44,586 [men chuckling] 307 00:13:44,620 --> 00:13:47,103 - [Ian] Hundred and five. - [Tyler] Hundred and five? 308 00:13:47,137 --> 00:13:48,206 [Chris] So when it was digging, 309 00:13:48,241 --> 00:13:51,068 it was about 20 buckets we go past every minute. 310 00:13:51,103 --> 00:13:52,586 Um... 311 00:13:52,620 --> 00:13:55,206 So yeah, each bucket travels up, tips up here, 312 00:13:55,241 --> 00:13:57,344 comes back down, takes another scoop. 313 00:13:58,137 --> 00:14:00,034 Is that still pay in the bucket? 314 00:14:00,068 --> 00:14:01,172 [Chris] Yeah, that's pay dirt. 315 00:14:01,206 --> 00:14:02,655 [Tyler] So there's gold in the bucket still. 316 00:14:02,689 --> 00:14:04,379 - In theory. - [all laughing] 317 00:14:04,413 --> 00:14:06,413 You're on a good patch. Wow. 318 00:14:09,448 --> 00:14:10,758 [Allan] If we go around here, 319 00:14:10,793 --> 00:14:13,206 that's your primary jigs there. 320 00:14:13,241 --> 00:14:17,103 [Parker] Nothing... I've never spin any around anything anywhere close to this big. 321 00:14:17,137 --> 00:14:19,000 [Allan] You can see there how it works. 322 00:14:19,034 --> 00:14:22,068 Got your wedge wire screen and you've got your ragging 323 00:14:22,827 --> 00:14:24,137 sitting on top of it. 324 00:14:24,172 --> 00:14:27,896 [narrator] Massive pulsating drums in the 30-foot wide jig 325 00:14:27,931 --> 00:14:30,758 sift 500 tons of pay dirt per hour 326 00:14:30,793 --> 00:14:34,310 through layers of coarse material known as ragging. 327 00:14:34,344 --> 00:14:39,275 Vibrating mesh screens then separate out the soil from the fine gold, 328 00:14:39,310 --> 00:14:42,379 increasing potential gold recovery. 329 00:14:42,413 --> 00:14:44,896 You really find much gold that wouldn't fall through that? 330 00:14:44,931 --> 00:14:47,620 Not much. Not many nuggets here. 331 00:14:47,655 --> 00:14:51,689 So at my grandpa's place, we had one jig about the size of one of these cells. 332 00:14:51,724 --> 00:14:54,620 And on this one there's like 32 of them. 333 00:14:55,655 --> 00:14:59,068 Sixty-four times bigger. 334 00:14:59,103 --> 00:15:01,793 - Is there still a lot of gold to be mined around here? - [Allan] Yeah. 335 00:15:04,586 --> 00:15:06,379 [Parker] This is the control room, huh? 336 00:15:06,413 --> 00:15:08,620 When this thing was running, did you ever run it? 337 00:15:08,655 --> 00:15:10,551 - Generally preferred not to. - [Parker] Right. 338 00:15:10,586 --> 00:15:13,482 You probably had a lot of other things going on when this was running. 339 00:15:13,517 --> 00:15:14,965 Yes, exactly. 340 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:16,620 It only takes a crew of three. 341 00:15:16,655 --> 00:15:19,137 - On board. - [Allan] On board. You got one guy on the cab 342 00:15:19,172 --> 00:15:20,793 and two on the dig. 343 00:15:20,827 --> 00:15:23,965 [Parker] I've gotta say, like, we've toured all over a lot of mine sites 344 00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:26,517 and this is, like, has them all beat. 345 00:15:26,551 --> 00:15:29,103 It really is so impressive. 346 00:15:29,137 --> 00:15:31,310 You'd get one over Tony Beets, wouldn't ya? 347 00:15:31,344 --> 00:15:33,137 No kidding. He wouldn't like that. 348 00:15:33,172 --> 00:15:34,103 [chuckles] 349 00:15:34,137 --> 00:15:36,896 So is this thing, like, actually for sale? 350 00:15:36,931 --> 00:15:38,241 [Allan] Yeah, a deal could be done. 351 00:15:43,758 --> 00:15:45,206 [Jeff] There you guys are. 352 00:15:45,241 --> 00:15:46,586 [Parker] What's going on? 353 00:15:46,620 --> 00:15:49,206 - Checking the dredge out. This is awesome. - Yeah, it's wild, huh? 354 00:15:49,241 --> 00:15:50,379 So have we done the deal? 355 00:15:50,413 --> 00:15:52,344 Parker's buying it. We're off home. 356 00:15:52,379 --> 00:15:53,586 What? 357 00:15:53,620 --> 00:15:54,965 You're full of [bleep]. 358 00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:56,758 [Allan chuckles] 359 00:15:56,793 --> 00:15:59,000 [Jeff] What size are we chopping it up into to get it back? 360 00:15:59,034 --> 00:16:02,448 No, we're just gonna chew our way out to the ocean and then tow it... 361 00:16:02,482 --> 00:16:04,655 - [Jeff] Tow it. - ...over to Alaska. 362 00:16:04,689 --> 00:16:06,103 - [Jeff] I like it. - And then up the Yukon River. 363 00:16:06,137 --> 00:16:07,896 - [Jeff] That sounds like a journey. - [Dan laughs] 364 00:16:07,931 --> 00:16:11,448 [Parker] I mean, it's closer to what I'm looking for than the last wash plant 365 00:16:11,482 --> 00:16:12,517 that we looked at. 366 00:16:12,551 --> 00:16:14,448 But you overshot now. 367 00:16:14,482 --> 00:16:16,931 We went and looked at like a 20 yard an hour plant 368 00:16:16,965 --> 00:16:19,206 that was for sale and I'm like, a little small. 369 00:16:19,241 --> 00:16:22,206 Now we come here and it's like, I feel like Goldilocks, like... 370 00:16:22,241 --> 00:16:25,448 - [all laughing] - Too small. No, this is too big, Tyler. 371 00:16:25,482 --> 00:16:26,655 [all laughing] 372 00:16:26,689 --> 00:16:28,965 I promise we'll find one that's just right. 373 00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:30,827 I really appreciate the time, though. 374 00:16:30,862 --> 00:16:34,137 One of the cooler days that I've ever had in my life, honestly. 375 00:16:34,172 --> 00:16:36,103 Thanks so much for having us. 376 00:16:36,137 --> 00:16:38,103 All right. Well, thanks, guys. 377 00:16:38,137 --> 00:16:39,275 I really appreciate it. 378 00:16:39,310 --> 00:16:40,758 - Thank you. - [Jeff] Thank you. 379 00:16:40,793 --> 00:16:42,103 - Cheers, guys. - [Ian] Bye. 380 00:16:42,758 --> 00:16:44,310 [Parker] It's pissing down. 381 00:16:45,206 --> 00:16:46,586 The dredge is amazing, 382 00:16:46,620 --> 00:16:49,896 but we need to get back on track and get further down the trail 383 00:16:49,931 --> 00:16:51,310 and towards some decisions. 384 00:16:51,344 --> 00:16:52,310 [thunder rumbling] 385 00:17:06,551 --> 00:17:08,724 I've got small wash plant syndrome now. 386 00:17:08,758 --> 00:17:09,931 Aw. 387 00:17:09,965 --> 00:17:11,482 [Sarge] Guys, guys, guys. 388 00:17:11,517 --> 00:17:14,586 I've got reports swallowing levers, I've got reports of flash flooding. 389 00:17:14,620 --> 00:17:16,379 We've got 100 mills of water in the mountains. 390 00:17:16,413 --> 00:17:19,275 We need to bag out and bag out now, so pack your [bleep]. 391 00:17:19,310 --> 00:17:20,413 Put your foot on the gas 392 00:17:20,448 --> 00:17:21,620 and let's get the hell out of here. 393 00:17:21,655 --> 00:17:24,241 - Thanks, Sarge. - [Sarge] Let's go. 394 00:17:24,275 --> 00:17:26,241 - [bleeping] - [Dan] We need to get the [bleep] out of here now. 395 00:17:26,275 --> 00:17:27,344 [engine starts] 396 00:17:28,448 --> 00:17:30,620 [Dan] I've never seen Sarge serious before. 397 00:17:33,103 --> 00:17:35,862 [narrator] Eight inches of rain falls in an hour. 398 00:17:35,896 --> 00:17:39,275 Swelling the Grey River by more than 3 feet. 399 00:17:40,689 --> 00:17:41,896 Oh, my [bleep]. Is that the river? 400 00:17:41,931 --> 00:17:44,275 [Jeff] It's actually gotten higher. Holy [bleep]. 401 00:17:44,310 --> 00:17:45,448 - Looks deeper. - It looks deeper. 402 00:17:45,482 --> 00:17:47,689 [Tyler] Oh, my... Oh, my [bleep]. Oh, my [bleeping]! 403 00:17:50,482 --> 00:17:52,379 [Dan] Give it some. Let's go, go, go. 404 00:17:57,137 --> 00:17:59,000 [Tyler] The closest town is on evacuation watch. 405 00:17:59,034 --> 00:18:03,310 An alert has been sent out for them to get ready to evacuate. 406 00:18:03,344 --> 00:18:06,689 [narrator] New Zealand is no stranger to natural disasters. 407 00:18:06,724 --> 00:18:10,103 During a freak one in 500 year storm, 408 00:18:10,137 --> 00:18:14,000 water surged over the banks of the Rangitaiki River 409 00:18:14,034 --> 00:18:18,689 leading to mass evacuation and millions of dollars worth of damage. 410 00:18:18,724 --> 00:18:21,482 So we're not camping it, so I think, like literally, 411 00:18:21,517 --> 00:18:23,172 the first hotel that we come to. 412 00:18:23,206 --> 00:18:25,310 [Jeff] Look at the water across the road. Holy [bleep]. 413 00:18:26,482 --> 00:18:27,827 [Tyler] Okay. 414 00:18:27,862 --> 00:18:30,137 [Dan] Uh, we're driving in a river. 415 00:18:30,172 --> 00:18:31,379 Do we have an escape route? 416 00:18:33,827 --> 00:18:34,862 [Dan] [bleep] me. 417 00:18:37,172 --> 00:18:38,241 [Jeff] Look at the water over here, guys. 418 00:18:38,275 --> 00:18:40,275 That guy's house is like in the water almost. 419 00:18:40,310 --> 00:18:41,724 Look right here. Look at the fence. 420 00:18:41,758 --> 00:18:44,241 - His driveway. Look at this driveway. - [Dan] Oh, [bleep] hell. 421 00:18:44,275 --> 00:18:45,241 [bleep] 422 00:18:47,103 --> 00:18:50,275 We can't take this bridge coming up. This whole road's been washed out. 423 00:18:50,310 --> 00:18:51,655 Which bridge is out? 424 00:18:51,689 --> 00:18:55,275 - Dobson. - [Dan] Dobson. Dobson Road is now... 425 00:18:55,310 --> 00:18:58,689 [bleep] I've got a feeling that's how we get to the next [bleep] mine site. 426 00:18:59,137 --> 00:19:00,206 Oh. 427 00:19:00,241 --> 00:19:01,275 Hang on. 428 00:19:01,758 --> 00:19:03,000 It is, hang on. 429 00:19:03,965 --> 00:19:06,000 Okay, we can't get to the next mine site. 430 00:19:06,758 --> 00:19:07,586 We're [bleep]. 431 00:19:08,310 --> 00:19:10,241 [Jeff] That is [bleep]. 432 00:19:10,275 --> 00:19:12,137 [Tyler] We're definitely not getting to the guy I had planned. 433 00:19:12,172 --> 00:19:14,551 - We're gonna have to get a plan B together. - [Dan] Okay. 434 00:19:14,586 --> 00:19:16,448 The road's washed out. There's no chance. 435 00:19:18,275 --> 00:19:20,827 [Dan] We made it. Well done, everyone. 436 00:19:20,862 --> 00:19:22,517 - Good driving, Jeff. - [Jeff] Thank you. 437 00:19:23,896 --> 00:19:26,758 [narrator] With rain predicted for the next 12 hours, 438 00:19:26,793 --> 00:19:30,000 the crew check into a hotel to wait it out. 439 00:19:31,758 --> 00:19:34,241 [Parker] Like, I'm from the coast. I'm used to rain. 440 00:19:34,275 --> 00:19:36,172 But I don't like rain. 441 00:19:36,206 --> 00:19:37,655 Especially after 442 00:19:37,689 --> 00:19:39,965 after my buddy, David, died last year in a big landslide 443 00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:40,965 after ten inches of rain. 444 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:42,689 It's always made me a bit... 445 00:19:44,413 --> 00:19:46,034 Whenever it rains I think about it. 446 00:19:47,620 --> 00:19:48,965 Sucks. 447 00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:51,103 And it is still absolutely smashing it down. 448 00:19:51,137 --> 00:19:54,034 I can literally hear it banging against my window, 449 00:19:54,068 --> 00:19:57,862 and you can hear it, you know, the wind is so powerful whipping off the ocean. 450 00:19:57,896 --> 00:20:01,931 I'm so [bleep] exhausted. It's been a huge couple of days. 451 00:20:01,965 --> 00:20:04,068 Feel really bad for the miners that are getting washed out. 452 00:20:04,103 --> 00:20:06,793 We had a couple that we're meant to see, 453 00:20:06,827 --> 00:20:09,206 and we can't even get to them because the roads are just gone. 454 00:20:36,241 --> 00:20:40,137 - Wow, that storm left quick. - Oh, my [bleep], know. 455 00:20:40,172 --> 00:20:42,551 Beautiful out. 456 00:20:42,586 --> 00:20:45,482 [narrator] After a 24 hour delay due to flooding... 457 00:20:46,482 --> 00:20:47,655 Gorgeous now. 458 00:20:47,689 --> 00:20:49,448 [narrator] The team are back on the road. 459 00:20:53,517 --> 00:20:56,275 So, we're going to Louis Nel's mine site. 460 00:20:56,310 --> 00:20:57,517 This is all very last minute, though. 461 00:20:57,551 --> 00:20:59,206 To be honest, I don't know a lot. 462 00:20:59,241 --> 00:21:02,793 So he seems like he's pretty, like, open to us having a look around 463 00:21:02,827 --> 00:21:04,448 and seeing if anything's for sale. 464 00:21:04,482 --> 00:21:07,586 [narrator] The team pivots 70 miles down the coast 465 00:21:07,620 --> 00:21:11,827 to the historic mining settlement of Ruatapu, 466 00:21:11,862 --> 00:21:15,965 on a Hail Mary mission to bring Parker's million dollar shopping trip 467 00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:17,862 back on track. 468 00:21:17,896 --> 00:21:19,827 I've been really stressed out the last couple of day 469 00:21:19,862 --> 00:21:22,103 because I just haven't felt like I've been delivering. 470 00:21:22,137 --> 00:21:23,551 And the miners were pulling out, 471 00:21:23,586 --> 00:21:25,275 we couldn't get to the mine sites I had lined up. 472 00:21:26,172 --> 00:21:27,344 [Tyler] I'm a little bit nervous. 473 00:21:27,379 --> 00:21:29,068 I did not have this planned out whatsoever. 474 00:21:32,172 --> 00:21:34,379 [Louis] 475 00:21:34,413 --> 00:21:37,517 You must be Uncle Louis. 476 00:21:37,551 --> 00:21:38,448 Is this an all right time for you? 477 00:21:38,482 --> 00:21:39,620 Yeah, [bleep] Parker. 478 00:21:39,655 --> 00:21:40,448 Any time, mate. 479 00:21:43,965 --> 00:21:44,931 [Parker] All right, well, good. 480 00:21:44,965 --> 00:21:46,206 You're from South Africa, right? 481 00:21:47,482 --> 00:21:48,689 [Parker] Gotcha. 482 00:21:48,724 --> 00:21:50,482 Okay, so you grew up mining, huh? 483 00:21:50,517 --> 00:21:53,275 First diamond mining back home. 484 00:21:53,310 --> 00:21:54,275 [Parker] You guys were diamond mining? 485 00:21:54,310 --> 00:21:55,103 [Louis] 486 00:21:57,172 --> 00:22:01,724 [narrator] Before moving to the New Zealand gold fields in 2017, 487 00:22:01,758 --> 00:22:03,724 Louis Nel and his son, Michael, 488 00:22:03,758 --> 00:22:08,517 mined diamonds for 20 years in the northern provinces of South Africa. 489 00:22:08,551 --> 00:22:12,137 Their biggest find was an 85 carat gem 490 00:22:12,172 --> 00:22:14,344 worth tens of millions of dollars. 491 00:22:15,827 --> 00:22:18,586 We're struggling to find wash plants that are for sale. 492 00:22:26,758 --> 00:22:28,103 Oh, yeah? 493 00:22:28,137 --> 00:22:30,896 That's really what we're looking for right now, yeah. 494 00:22:30,931 --> 00:22:32,931 We still haven't decided on a trommel, like... 495 00:22:33,896 --> 00:22:36,000 I'm used to screen decks. 496 00:22:42,103 --> 00:22:42,862 [Parker] Mmm-hmm. 497 00:22:43,931 --> 00:22:44,724 [Parker] In the top. 498 00:22:47,344 --> 00:22:49,000 Do you know what would be really cool 499 00:22:49,034 --> 00:22:50,758 is if we could do a little, maybe if we did a little bit of a tour of the place? 500 00:22:50,793 --> 00:22:52,172 Yeah, we can quickly go. 501 00:22:52,206 --> 00:22:53,655 - Is that all right? - Yeah. Come, Parker, let's go. 502 00:22:53,689 --> 00:22:54,482 Great. 503 00:22:58,103 --> 00:23:02,655 [narrator] Louis' 500 acres of gold-rich but clay-filled ground 504 00:23:02,689 --> 00:23:05,931 are similar to Parker's new claim in Alaska, 505 00:23:05,965 --> 00:23:08,965 making it the perfect ground to test drive a plant. 506 00:23:09,793 --> 00:23:11,206 Nice site you got here, Louis. 507 00:23:11,241 --> 00:23:12,724 Oh, [bleep], 508 00:23:12,758 --> 00:23:14,310 - you've got two more plants right over here. - [Louis] Yeah. 509 00:23:14,344 --> 00:23:16,241 [Parker] Holy cow. Plants everywhere, Louis. 510 00:23:21,103 --> 00:23:23,310 [narrator] To bank as much gold as he can 511 00:23:23,344 --> 00:23:26,241 and make the most of his inconsistent pay, 512 00:23:26,275 --> 00:23:28,620 Louis runs five trommels at a time. 513 00:23:28,655 --> 00:23:31,448 [Tyler] I didn't realize that this is a full-on mining operation. 514 00:23:31,482 --> 00:23:33,689 I don't know. What's your first reaction? It looks pretty good to me. 515 00:23:33,724 --> 00:23:35,517 [Jeff] Look at this. This is incredible. 516 00:23:35,551 --> 00:23:38,344 And there's that one there, and that one over there, and one over there. 517 00:23:38,379 --> 00:23:40,862 [Jeff] How many does he have here? Is it six? 518 00:23:40,896 --> 00:23:42,275 I think Parker's gonna like that. 519 00:23:42,310 --> 00:23:43,965 [gasps] Thank [bleep] 520 00:23:44,586 --> 00:23:45,965 [Louis] 521 00:23:49,827 --> 00:23:50,620 Right. 522 00:23:52,137 --> 00:23:53,586 [Parker] Right. 523 00:23:53,620 --> 00:23:56,655 - And that's for sale, Louis? You'd sell that? - Yeah. 524 00:23:58,000 --> 00:23:59,586 [Louis] 525 00:24:01,896 --> 00:24:04,586 Do you notice a difference in recovery rate on the jigs? 526 00:24:07,586 --> 00:24:09,241 - [Louis] Just... - [Parker] Gotcha. 527 00:24:09,275 --> 00:24:11,000 [Dan] Jigs take a little bit more maintenance, don't they? A bit more work? 528 00:24:11,034 --> 00:24:12,068 [Louis] 529 00:24:18,862 --> 00:24:20,137 Right. 530 00:24:20,172 --> 00:24:22,517 [narrator] Using the jigs in addition to sluices 531 00:24:22,551 --> 00:24:25,172 means that even the smallest pieces of gold 532 00:24:25,206 --> 00:24:27,379 are caught across Louis' claim, 533 00:24:27,413 --> 00:24:29,620 maximizing his gold recovery. 534 00:24:29,655 --> 00:24:31,793 [Tyler] I'd love to know how much gold they're finding. 535 00:24:31,827 --> 00:24:33,413 I want to get out and take a look at these things. 536 00:24:33,448 --> 00:24:36,758 - They've even got jigs. - Amazing. 537 00:24:36,793 --> 00:24:38,931 - [Jeff] Parker's gonna be happy. - [Tyler] You reckon? 538 00:24:38,965 --> 00:24:40,655 [Jeff] Yeah, I think you've done it. 539 00:24:41,482 --> 00:24:43,344 - Good work, Tyler. - To be honest, 540 00:24:43,379 --> 00:24:45,448 this was a bit of a fluke I think. 541 00:24:45,482 --> 00:24:46,965 - [Jeff] Well, maybe don't tell him that. - Yeah, I won't. 542 00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:48,758 [Jeff] Keep that on your side. 543 00:24:48,793 --> 00:24:50,068 [Jeff] Kind of like a kid in a candy store right now. 544 00:24:50,827 --> 00:24:51,827 This is perfect. 545 00:24:53,172 --> 00:24:54,310 This is what we've been looking for, 546 00:24:54,344 --> 00:24:55,793 so I'm pretty stoked for Tyler. 547 00:24:55,827 --> 00:24:57,310 [Tyler] Huge sigh of relief when we rocked up. 548 00:24:57,344 --> 00:25:02,000 An amazing mine site, great wash plants, Parker seems happy. 549 00:25:02,034 --> 00:25:03,965 Huge machinery, which is a great start as well. 550 00:25:05,482 --> 00:25:07,551 [Parker] You know, I think this will be a really good mine site for us 551 00:25:07,586 --> 00:25:09,586 because he's got a variety of plants, 552 00:25:10,482 --> 00:25:12,137 and we can see it all working, 553 00:25:12,172 --> 00:25:13,758 and still haven't been around a jig plant that's been running. 554 00:25:13,793 --> 00:25:16,137 [Parker] I really want to go check that jig plant out. 555 00:25:20,379 --> 00:25:22,206 [Parker] Maybe we could, like, 556 00:25:22,241 --> 00:25:25,344 - just spend some time around a few different plants. - Yeah. 557 00:25:25,379 --> 00:25:28,586 And maybe we could even kind of run a test of them, 558 00:25:28,620 --> 00:25:30,241 - just in different types of material - [Louis] Yeah. 559 00:25:30,275 --> 00:25:32,103 and how they wash. 560 00:25:32,137 --> 00:25:36,241 Try to figure out what's best suited for us and for that ground. 561 00:25:36,275 --> 00:25:38,034 [Louis] Yeah. You can pick and choose. 562 00:25:39,482 --> 00:25:40,655 So, which is to be then? 563 00:25:46,034 --> 00:25:49,758 We just saw the birch fields dredge. 564 00:25:49,793 --> 00:25:51,448 - And it has those big jig... - Oh, the big one. 565 00:25:51,482 --> 00:25:54,241 - It has those big jigs on it, so I'm on a bit of a jig kick. - The old one, yeah. 566 00:25:54,275 --> 00:25:56,965 So if it's all right, go run that plant with the jigs on it. 567 00:26:03,310 --> 00:26:04,689 [Parker] Sweet. 568 00:26:04,724 --> 00:26:05,827 - That would be awesome. - [Louis] Yeah. 569 00:26:05,862 --> 00:26:09,241 I'm really interested in that recovery rate difference. 570 00:26:09,275 --> 00:26:10,689 So, if it's all right with you, 571 00:26:10,724 --> 00:26:12,275 - then we can count the number of buckets, - [Louis] Yeah. 572 00:26:12,310 --> 00:26:14,034 and then we'll know what plant ran 573 00:26:14,068 --> 00:26:15,413 - how much yardage - Yeah. 574 00:26:15,448 --> 00:26:18,344 and we can see who has better recovery, huh? 575 00:26:18,379 --> 00:26:21,586 Yeah. As long as you guys do the cleanups yourself, it's all good. 576 00:26:21,620 --> 00:26:24,413 - [all laugh] - That is a real gold miner 577 00:26:24,448 --> 00:26:26,551 - Yeah. - because we all [bleep] hate doing cleanup. 578 00:26:26,586 --> 00:26:28,517 - [Jeff] Sounds like a plan. - [Parker] All right. Shall we head over there? 579 00:26:28,551 --> 00:26:29,448 - [Louis] Yeah. - All right. 580 00:26:29,482 --> 00:26:30,517 - Perfect. - Thanks, guys. 581 00:26:32,793 --> 00:26:34,103 [Parker] For me, it's starting to get to the point 582 00:26:34,137 --> 00:26:36,965 where we need to make some decisions about, you know, 583 00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:39,068 what we're using as a wash plant in Alaska. 584 00:26:39,103 --> 00:26:43,586 So, you know, this is a good place to be right now. 585 00:26:59,827 --> 00:27:01,689 - [Dan] What's your name, mate? - Digger. 586 00:27:01,724 --> 00:27:02,862 - Digger? - Digger, yeah. 587 00:27:02,896 --> 00:27:03,689 [Dan] That's a great name. 588 00:27:09,758 --> 00:27:12,344 [narrator] At Louis Nel's New Zealand claim, 589 00:27:12,379 --> 00:27:15,758 Parker is pitting two wash plants against each other 590 00:27:15,793 --> 00:27:18,448 to determine if a jig is more efficient 591 00:27:18,482 --> 00:27:22,103 at capturing fine gold from clay-rich soil. 592 00:27:22,137 --> 00:27:25,448 What's your opinion of this plant? This one. 593 00:27:25,482 --> 00:27:30,620 [narrator] Jeff is overseeing a six hour test on a six foot red trommel 594 00:27:30,655 --> 00:27:34,896 that processes 160 yards of paydirt an hour. 595 00:27:34,931 --> 00:27:38,793 Right there, now they've got the automatic cleaner on it's a lot better. 596 00:27:38,827 --> 00:27:41,275 Put any sand in it years ago and it used to just flood with sand. 597 00:27:41,310 --> 00:27:42,758 Now they put that automatic cleaner on 598 00:27:42,793 --> 00:27:45,172 it runs through these tables real good. 599 00:27:45,206 --> 00:27:48,551 - How's this one feeling, Jeff? - That feels good, yeah. Perfect. 600 00:27:54,931 --> 00:27:57,206 I've been around one that was in line like this 601 00:27:57,241 --> 00:27:58,827 - at my grandpa's mine site. - Yeah. 602 00:27:58,862 --> 00:28:02,034 [narrator] Parker will feed the six foot yellow trommel. 603 00:28:03,275 --> 00:28:04,275 [Parker] He really liked it. 604 00:28:07,482 --> 00:28:08,724 Right. 605 00:28:08,758 --> 00:28:11,137 [narrator] At 120 yards per hour, 606 00:28:11,172 --> 00:28:14,724 it's 25% slower than Jeff's red one 607 00:28:14,758 --> 00:28:18,620 but has the advantage of an eight ton motorized jig 608 00:28:18,655 --> 00:28:22,896 which should capture more of the hard-to-catch fine gold. 609 00:28:28,344 --> 00:28:33,310 Now I'm running a trommel that's feeding a set of jigs, 610 00:28:33,344 --> 00:28:37,310 which is actually the same kind of setup that my grandpa had, 611 00:28:37,344 --> 00:28:40,379 and so it's kind of cool to be having it happen again. 612 00:28:40,413 --> 00:28:42,758 And, you know, it definitely brings me back home 613 00:28:42,793 --> 00:28:45,379 and makes me think of growing up with Big Nugget. 614 00:28:52,413 --> 00:28:54,517 Those sluice stones look pretty short. 615 00:28:55,620 --> 00:28:57,137 Are they short? 616 00:28:57,172 --> 00:28:58,965 These are the same we've been seeing here, yeah. 617 00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:00,896 - [Dan] They're about the same? - Very short, compared to the Yukon, 618 00:29:00,931 --> 00:29:02,827 and they're a lot longer. 619 00:29:02,862 --> 00:29:05,413 [narrator] Running 40 yards an hour quicker, 620 00:29:05,448 --> 00:29:10,586 Jeff's plant is able to process a higher volume of pay. 621 00:29:10,620 --> 00:29:15,172 And its short sluices feature super-efficient hydraulic ripples, 622 00:29:15,206 --> 00:29:18,758 making the plant easy to transport. 623 00:29:18,793 --> 00:29:21,965 [Jeff] What you're looking for is once the material goes into the trommel 624 00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:23,965 and gets washed and cleaned as it goes down, 625 00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:25,896 you want to make sure that the tailings coming out the end 626 00:29:25,931 --> 00:29:28,275 are nice and washed and there's not lots of fine material on it. 627 00:29:28,310 --> 00:29:30,068 Otherwise, you're either running too fast 628 00:29:30,103 --> 00:29:31,827 or you're not getting a good enough wash, 629 00:29:31,862 --> 00:29:33,241 and eventually you're gonna lose gold. 630 00:29:37,896 --> 00:29:41,034 [Tyler] I am currently clearing the tailings from both wash plants, 631 00:29:41,068 --> 00:29:46,137 and it's also the first loader I've ever driven that is not a wheel. 632 00:29:46,172 --> 00:29:48,724 It's got a stick which is quite out of my comfort zone. 633 00:29:50,275 --> 00:29:52,310 Hopefully no one saw that. 634 00:29:52,344 --> 00:29:54,103 Oh, I should have [bleep] gone forward more for that. 635 00:29:56,206 --> 00:29:58,034 Getting to be able to be out on the field 636 00:29:58,068 --> 00:30:03,034 and actually test these wash plants is so beneficial for us. 637 00:30:03,068 --> 00:30:05,931 I'm really curious to see if the wash plant with the jig wins 638 00:30:05,965 --> 00:30:08,931 or if the wash plant with the sluice box wins. 639 00:30:08,965 --> 00:30:10,586 It's really exciting. 640 00:30:10,620 --> 00:30:12,965 I've taken that corner [bleep] horrifically. 641 00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:14,000 Hopefully no one saw that. 642 00:30:21,931 --> 00:30:23,344 [bleep] [bleep] hell. 643 00:30:27,413 --> 00:30:28,689 [Michael on radio] 644 00:30:32,551 --> 00:30:33,620 What's happening? 645 00:30:34,482 --> 00:30:35,275 Holy [bleep]. 646 00:30:37,793 --> 00:30:38,758 [bleep] 647 00:30:42,620 --> 00:30:44,448 Yeah. What lever is it? 648 00:30:57,586 --> 00:30:59,758 [Michael on radio] 649 00:31:04,241 --> 00:31:05,000 [Jeff] Holy [bleep] 650 00:31:09,551 --> 00:31:10,896 Oh. 651 00:31:10,931 --> 00:31:12,896 Yeah, it's jammed up at the conveyor here. 652 00:31:12,931 --> 00:31:14,862 We're gonna have to get a shovel in here and dig it out. 653 00:31:14,896 --> 00:31:16,827 I'll come down and give you a hand. 654 00:31:18,379 --> 00:31:19,793 What's happened, mate? 655 00:31:19,827 --> 00:31:22,206 [Jeff] The material's jammed up, weighing the belt down, 656 00:31:22,241 --> 00:31:23,758 stopping the belt from moving, 657 00:31:23,793 --> 00:31:25,206 and I think that's what happened 658 00:31:25,241 --> 00:31:28,034 is a big rock came out amongst a bunch of small rocks, 659 00:31:28,068 --> 00:31:29,344 stopping the belt in its place. 660 00:31:30,241 --> 00:31:31,413 Oh, [bleep]. 661 00:31:35,482 --> 00:31:36,448 Oh, man. 662 00:31:42,241 --> 00:31:44,551 [Jeff] Oh, there you go. 663 00:31:44,586 --> 00:31:48,206 - I'll put it on, let it go, see if it goes. - See if it goes? 664 00:31:48,241 --> 00:31:52,000 - Jeff, is it all right? - Yeah, we got it. We got to it pretty quick. 665 00:31:52,965 --> 00:31:54,482 Okay, go ahead, Michael, see if it turns. 666 00:31:58,655 --> 00:31:59,827 See if you can bump it again? 667 00:32:06,241 --> 00:32:09,000 There it goes. Right on. Look at that rock. 668 00:32:09,689 --> 00:32:10,758 Watch that thing come off. 669 00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:14,586 - That was a big one. - [bleep] hell. 670 00:32:14,620 --> 00:32:17,310 We're lucky. I'd say we dodged a bullet. 671 00:32:18,793 --> 00:32:20,620 [narrator] Back up and running, 672 00:32:20,655 --> 00:32:24,275 Jeff and Parker run the last buckets of their six hour test 673 00:32:24,310 --> 00:32:26,103 through the plants. 674 00:32:26,137 --> 00:32:28,965 - [Dan] How's Parker doing? - Parker's doing good, mate. 675 00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:32,103 He's got the swing of it. He's quite good, yeah. 676 00:32:32,137 --> 00:32:33,862 We can employ him. He's quite good. 677 00:32:36,137 --> 00:32:38,931 [Parker] Yeah, I'm curious to see how the gold recovery is, 678 00:32:38,965 --> 00:32:42,862 and then have a more serious conversation about what our options are. 679 00:32:42,896 --> 00:32:44,931 There is a fair bit of time pressure on us, 680 00:32:44,965 --> 00:32:49,000 and it gets worse by the day to find a plant 681 00:32:49,034 --> 00:32:53,103 and have a plan for what we're gonna do for a plant for Fairbanks, 682 00:32:53,137 --> 00:32:55,931 because, and I want to be sluicing early there. 683 00:32:57,344 --> 00:32:59,482 - [Louis] Copy, Parker? - Yeah, what's up? 684 00:32:59,517 --> 00:33:02,793 We got to shut down the jig and do a cleanup, 685 00:33:02,827 --> 00:33:04,896 and you guys can have a look. 686 00:33:04,931 --> 00:33:07,379 - Oh, okay, I'll hop out. Thanks, man. - Yeah. 687 00:33:13,620 --> 00:33:14,965 [Jeff] Yeah, look at that. It's so cool. 688 00:33:15,724 --> 00:33:16,724 Getting jiggy with it. 689 00:33:21,827 --> 00:33:24,724 [Parker] I'm curious to see how the gold recovery is. 690 00:33:24,758 --> 00:33:26,379 You know, if the price is right 691 00:33:26,413 --> 00:33:28,689 I would consider one of these plants 692 00:33:28,724 --> 00:33:31,068 if they prove to be good gold catchers. 693 00:33:31,103 --> 00:33:32,655 Either of those would suit our needs. 694 00:33:34,241 --> 00:33:36,000 Is it just gonna be yellow? 695 00:33:36,034 --> 00:33:37,689 - [laughs] - There must be something. 696 00:33:38,482 --> 00:33:39,275 [chuckles] 697 00:33:41,275 --> 00:33:42,448 [Tyler] Oh, wow. 698 00:33:46,896 --> 00:33:50,034 - It's not all in the tailings? - [Louis] No, guarantee you. 699 00:33:50,068 --> 00:33:51,862 You can test it. 700 00:33:51,896 --> 00:33:53,758 - [Tyler] That's what we like to hear. - That's cool, innit? 701 00:33:53,793 --> 00:33:54,724 That's wicked. 702 00:33:57,310 --> 00:33:59,000 [narrator] With the yellow plant clean, 703 00:33:59,034 --> 00:34:01,862 the team move to the red plant. 704 00:34:01,896 --> 00:34:04,827 - How's she looking, Michael? - Looking pretty good. 705 00:34:04,862 --> 00:34:06,896 - Yeah, you should see a bit now. - [Tyler] Oh, my [bleep] 706 00:34:06,931 --> 00:34:09,241 [Dan] Oh, look. 707 00:34:09,275 --> 00:34:10,827 - Yeah, that's awesome. - [Tyler] Oh, look at that. 708 00:34:10,862 --> 00:34:12,275 Look at it all in there as well. 709 00:34:12,310 --> 00:34:13,896 I'm literally standing on gold. 710 00:34:14,413 --> 00:34:16,241 Yeah, there it is. 711 00:34:16,275 --> 00:34:18,965 [Tyler] Is this your favorite part, seeing the gold? 712 00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:21,172 [Michael] It makes the cleanup all worthwhile. 713 00:34:21,206 --> 00:34:24,724 - You don't get tired of doing it. - Exactly. 714 00:34:24,758 --> 00:34:27,103 [Parker] Testing out those two plants that we did today 715 00:34:27,137 --> 00:34:29,344 was a good thing to do, 716 00:34:29,379 --> 00:34:31,310 but we need to make some decisions. 717 00:34:31,344 --> 00:34:32,448 Clock's ticking. 718 00:34:33,586 --> 00:34:35,551 [Dan] That is a lot of buckets of gold. 719 00:34:42,793 --> 00:34:46,068 [narrator] Halfway through a six hour shift loading pay... 720 00:34:46,103 --> 00:34:48,206 Yeah, we're just checking in with Parker, see how he's doing. 721 00:34:48,241 --> 00:34:50,068 [Dan] Mate, he's not looking the most talkative today. 722 00:34:50,103 --> 00:34:51,724 I don't reckon you're gonna get an answer out of him. 723 00:34:56,689 --> 00:34:59,413 [Dan] In fact, I'd be willing to bet five beers 724 00:34:59,448 --> 00:35:01,413 you can't get more than five words out of him. 725 00:35:01,448 --> 00:35:03,137 - Five beers? - [laughing] Yeah. 726 00:35:03,172 --> 00:35:05,931 - With three questions. - You're on. 727 00:35:05,965 --> 00:35:06,793 - I'm on? - [laughing] You're on. 728 00:35:07,413 --> 00:35:08,655 [laughs] 729 00:35:10,724 --> 00:35:12,137 [Jeff on radio] Hey, Parker, are you on here? 730 00:35:13,793 --> 00:35:15,482 That's not a word. That was a thumbs up. 731 00:35:15,517 --> 00:35:17,034 - [laughs] - [Jeff] How are you liking the hopper feeder? 732 00:35:18,413 --> 00:35:20,206 - Oh, my God. - [Dan cackles] 733 00:35:21,344 --> 00:35:22,931 [Dan] You've got one more question, Jeff. 734 00:35:22,965 --> 00:35:26,000 In your own words, tell me how you like this plant. 735 00:35:27,413 --> 00:35:28,862 It's all right. 736 00:35:28,896 --> 00:35:30,896 - [Dan] How many words was that? - Two. 737 00:35:31,931 --> 00:35:35,000 Winner. [laughs] You owe me five beers, Jeff. 738 00:35:46,241 --> 00:35:48,172 Oh, yeah, this is nice. That's a nice setup. 739 00:35:50,275 --> 00:35:52,068 Right. 740 00:35:52,103 --> 00:35:54,793 [narrator] In the gold fields of New Zealand's west coast, 741 00:35:54,827 --> 00:35:58,137 the team are pitting two wash plants against each other. 742 00:35:59,413 --> 00:36:03,413 Now, Parker wants to see which one caught the most gold. 743 00:36:06,068 --> 00:36:10,517 - You see there, Parker? - Oh, yeah. Not bad. 744 00:36:12,620 --> 00:36:15,068 [Dan] Louis, whose just been an absolute dreamboat, 745 00:36:15,103 --> 00:36:18,517 is super trusting, really nice, really helpful, 746 00:36:18,551 --> 00:36:20,000 and he's letting us in his gold room. 747 00:36:21,137 --> 00:36:22,344 I mean, there's not many miners 748 00:36:22,379 --> 00:36:23,931 that let you just wander in their gold room 749 00:36:23,965 --> 00:36:25,379 and stand right where all the gold's, like, 750 00:36:25,413 --> 00:36:27,137 pouring off the end of the table and stuff like that. 751 00:36:28,965 --> 00:36:30,724 [narrator] The concentrate from each plant 752 00:36:30,758 --> 00:36:32,689 is passed through the gold table, 753 00:36:34,103 --> 00:36:37,413 where the fine gold is separated from the black sand. 754 00:36:46,172 --> 00:36:47,517 [Parker] Yes. 755 00:36:47,551 --> 00:36:48,896 And there's probably a lot of that that you, like, 756 00:36:48,931 --> 00:36:51,827 - can't even see until you get it in a pile. - [Louis] 757 00:37:00,206 --> 00:37:01,379 [Tyler] This is great. 758 00:37:02,551 --> 00:37:05,448 It makes all the hard work worth it when you see this, 759 00:37:05,482 --> 00:37:07,689 - doesn't it? - Yeah. 760 00:37:07,724 --> 00:37:13,344 [narrator] The gold processed, it's time to weigh the results of each six hour test. 761 00:37:14,379 --> 00:37:17,103 Guys, this will be the jig. 762 00:37:17,137 --> 00:37:22,206 [narrator] First up, the yellow jig plant which ran 720 yards of pay. 763 00:37:23,413 --> 00:37:25,137 And you don't want the numbers on TV, right? 764 00:37:25,172 --> 00:37:26,000 - No. - All right. 765 00:37:26,034 --> 00:37:26,827 Okay, mate. 766 00:37:30,413 --> 00:37:32,448 - We're good. So, that's yours. - Gotcha. 767 00:37:32,482 --> 00:37:34,586 - Happy? - Yeah. 768 00:37:34,620 --> 00:37:37,000 - [Michael] And then this one will be the red screen. - [Parker] It's gonna be... 769 00:37:37,931 --> 00:37:39,862 I'll just zero it. 770 00:37:39,896 --> 00:37:44,758 [narrator] Next, the red trommel which ran 960 yards of pay. 771 00:37:46,379 --> 00:37:49,241 - Oh, [bleep]. - There's only a gram difference. 772 00:37:49,275 --> 00:37:50,793 One gram difference. 773 00:37:50,827 --> 00:37:52,827 - [Dan] Oh, wow. - Yeah, yeah, only a gram. 774 00:37:52,862 --> 00:37:54,862 [bleep] You got to be happy with that. 775 00:37:54,896 --> 00:37:58,448 Wow, what a great test. That's awesome. 776 00:37:58,482 --> 00:38:02,344 [Dan] The one with jigs found a gram more than the one without jigs, 777 00:38:02,379 --> 00:38:05,034 so that's pretty good. 778 00:38:06,620 --> 00:38:09,862 [narrator] More gold and from fewer yards of pay 779 00:38:09,896 --> 00:38:14,068 puts the yellow jig plant ahead in efficiency, 780 00:38:14,103 --> 00:38:20,344 and on Parker's Alaskan ground could increase profits by $200,000. 781 00:38:20,379 --> 00:38:22,586 [Parker] So, the big pro of the jig is definitely 782 00:38:22,620 --> 00:38:24,758 - the fine gold recovery. - [Louis] Yeah. 783 00:38:24,793 --> 00:38:28,137 But then on the con side it's, like, a lot of extra moving parts 784 00:38:28,172 --> 00:38:30,689 and a lot of extra setup time, and... 785 00:38:30,724 --> 00:38:31,620 [Louis] 786 00:38:31,655 --> 00:38:32,551 [Parker] Right. 787 00:38:35,655 --> 00:38:37,413 Right, get out of here. I need to talk to Louis. 788 00:38:39,103 --> 00:38:42,137 - On that note, we'll go. Thank you for that. - [Dan] Thank you very much. 789 00:38:45,137 --> 00:38:48,034 Feel like we're close now. Feel like we're so close. 790 00:38:48,068 --> 00:38:51,344 I can literally smell it. 791 00:38:51,379 --> 00:38:54,448 - So, what do we think? - I feel like it's too good to be true, almost. 792 00:38:54,482 --> 00:38:57,068 This is it. I think this is our best opportunity, Jeff, innit? 793 00:38:57,103 --> 00:38:58,862 Yeah, I think he's pretty happy with it. 794 00:38:58,896 --> 00:39:01,586 I was happy with the results, so... 795 00:39:01,620 --> 00:39:03,862 Well, I mean, which one he goes for I don't know. 796 00:39:03,896 --> 00:39:05,758 I'm thinking he likes the jig, the jig plant. 797 00:39:05,793 --> 00:39:08,172 - [Dan] Really? - Yeah, but who knows? 798 00:39:08,206 --> 00:39:11,827 This could be the trip done. It's a pretty exciting feeling. 799 00:39:11,862 --> 00:39:12,793 - [Dan] Yeah. - Mmm. 800 00:39:12,827 --> 00:39:14,206 [Dan] Here he comes. Here he comes. 801 00:39:14,241 --> 00:39:18,758 - So, I just had a chat with Louis and... - [Dan] And? 802 00:39:20,103 --> 00:39:21,724 He's definitely limbering up. 803 00:39:24,482 --> 00:39:28,517 Right? Like, things are for sale, he likes that we're here. 804 00:39:28,551 --> 00:39:30,275 - Wicked. - Yeah. 805 00:39:30,310 --> 00:39:32,931 - Good. - But I think we should stay here a bit more. 806 00:39:37,620 --> 00:39:41,241 There's a bunch more plants that we, like, didn't even look at. 807 00:39:46,448 --> 00:39:48,758 Like, him and I were spinning around in his pickup. 808 00:39:48,793 --> 00:39:52,103 He's like, "Oh, yeah, there's a couple other screens there", 809 00:39:52,137 --> 00:39:54,586 but we didn't even get out of our truck. 810 00:39:54,620 --> 00:39:57,034 If the offer's there we should check out his... 811 00:39:57,068 --> 00:39:58,724 because I'd like to see his screen decks 812 00:39:58,758 --> 00:40:00,517 because I just don't know how they would deal 813 00:40:00,551 --> 00:40:02,551 with this material in this ground. 814 00:40:02,586 --> 00:40:04,448 - You and I both know each screen inside and out, - [Jeff] Yeah. 815 00:40:04,482 --> 00:40:06,758 - but we haven't seen 'em on this kind of ground before. - No. 816 00:40:06,793 --> 00:40:08,000 You guys cool with that? 817 00:40:09,620 --> 00:40:11,620 [narrator] After four weeks on the road 818 00:40:11,655 --> 00:40:16,379 looking at trommels to deal with the clay in his new Alaskan claim, 819 00:40:16,413 --> 00:40:21,137 now Parker wants to explore an entirely different plant, 820 00:40:21,172 --> 00:40:23,448 a shaker deck with screens. 821 00:40:24,931 --> 00:40:27,655 There is an element of potentially being back at square one here. 822 00:40:27,689 --> 00:40:30,413 Everything up until this point has been trommel-based. 823 00:40:30,448 --> 00:40:33,896 You know, we're in the land of fine gold mining. They all use trommels. 824 00:40:33,931 --> 00:40:36,413 They're all very successful with them, so... 825 00:40:37,758 --> 00:40:40,758 I just hope we haven't opened Pandora's Box 826 00:40:40,793 --> 00:40:43,413 and now everything's gonna be shaker deck based. 827 00:40:43,448 --> 00:40:45,758 So, Parker's thrown a little bit of a curveball. 828 00:40:45,793 --> 00:40:47,689 Time is definitely getting tight. 829 00:40:47,724 --> 00:40:50,551 If Parker wants to make the mining season this year in Alaska 830 00:40:50,586 --> 00:40:52,965 he's definitely gonna start having to make some decisions. 831 00:40:53,000 --> 00:40:55,517 If he starts to sort of change his mind 832 00:40:55,551 --> 00:40:58,344 about the way he wants to mine Alaska now 833 00:40:58,379 --> 00:41:00,310 it would be quite a big U-turn. 834 00:41:01,275 --> 00:41:03,827 Shall we go find a spot to set up shop? 835 00:41:03,862 --> 00:41:04,931 [all] Yeah. 836 00:41:04,965 --> 00:41:06,241 - [Dan] Let's do it. - All right. 837 00:41:06,275 --> 00:41:07,034 [Dan] Wicked. 838 00:41:10,379 --> 00:41:12,965 I don't even know what type of wash plant we're looking for. 839 00:41:14,103 --> 00:41:15,482 That's why we're here. 840 00:41:15,517 --> 00:41:17,586 Like, I'm approaching this with a very open mind 841 00:41:17,620 --> 00:41:21,000 and no expectation, like, whether it's a trommel, 842 00:41:21,034 --> 00:41:23,344 or a screen deck, or some other type of machine 843 00:41:23,379 --> 00:41:26,965 that we don't even know about. 844 00:41:27,000 --> 00:41:30,827 You know, we're here to hunt down the best.