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Short filmTranscript
00:00Let's mine some gold.
00:07Over six short months, from spring to fall, the Klondike's toughest gold miners battled
00:18Mother Nature.
00:19I need help now.
00:20I broke through the ice.
00:22From violent storms.
00:23What the f*** can you do here?
00:24Somebody give me a f***ing radio.
00:28To floods.
00:29It's like, please don't say it.
00:31I'm going, I'm going, I'm going.
00:35And summer wildfires.
00:36F***, it's coming this way now.
00:38Looks like an atomic bomb.
00:41In their quest.
00:42Woo!
00:43Plants on fire!
00:44To bring in as much gold as possible before winter shuts them down.
00:51Holy Moses!
00:52Yeah!
00:53You guys, you just broke another record.
00:58The Klondike, 150 miles south of the Arctic Circle.
01:14In winter, temperatures drop to minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit, blanketing the landscape with
01:22upwards of six feet of snow and freezing everything.
01:31So when the miners want to get a jump on the season.
01:35So much snow.
01:36Oh, jeez.
01:37They have to battle these frigid conditions.
01:43Come on in.
01:45And fire up machines that have been frozen solid for six months.
01:50It's so bloody cold right now.
01:54Nothing works.
01:55Everything gives you troubles.
01:57It is important to get your s*** together in the winter.
02:01It makes a hell of a difference in your season if you're prepared.
02:03March 2021.
02:06King of the Klondike, Tony Beets, is determined to start his season early and needs his D10
02:14dozer to clear hundreds of tons of snow and ice from his claim.
02:19I'm on.
02:21The f***ing oil's starting.
02:25Nope, they're frozen.
02:28F***.
02:29At minus 30, nothing wants to work with you.
02:35The engine oil is frozen, but Tony has a plan.
02:40Give them a hand with a torch, make sure they don't rip the f*** out of it when they drag
02:43it up the stairs.
02:45We have a cargo parachute that covers the whole machine, and we blow lots of heat underneath
02:51it, and it heats up the machine, too.
02:55That is the kind of effort you have to go through when you show up early in the Yukon
02:59and you have minus 30.
03:02The bush fix warms the air above freezing to thaw out the fuel.
03:09Okay, we're ready.
03:10Oh, by that girl.
03:11Okay, crank the f***.
03:13Keep it flat out, huh?
03:15Okay, give her.
03:22Straight out.
03:33That's working good, huh?
03:35If you put the f***ing heat to it, then things fire up like nothing.
03:40Okay, take the bottom off.
03:44Let's go.
03:48That's more like it.
03:52We're going to open up the gate and blow the f***ing flame, and let's get on with the season.
03:57The D-10 back in action.
03:59Tony opens up his Paradise Hill mine site.
04:05Go, go, go.
04:07And gets his season underway.
04:10Let's run as much material as we can and get as much gold out of here as we can.
04:19We're in a big push right now to expose the cuts, get them all ready to go.
04:24Gold is high right now, so strike while the iron is hot.
04:36In April 2022, rookie miner Fred Lewis is waiting for the breakup of the mighty Yukon River.
04:46You guys watch out.
04:47Oh yeah, back, back, back.
04:49So he can get to his California Creek claim and start his season.
05:00Listen.
05:02Listen.
05:07It is official.
05:09It's go time.
05:16Once the ice clears completely, Fred ferries across and heads 40 miles to his mine site.
05:25Only for Mother Nature to punch him in the gut.
05:32What the f*** is that?
05:37Holy crap.
05:41Wow.
05:42Our entire claim is under ice.
05:48A quarter mile long, 30 foot thick sheet of ice covers his entire claim, making his gold rich pay dirt inaccessible.
05:59Our entire infrastructure is gone.
06:05If we don't break this ice up, we're going to be sitting here losing money.
06:08This ice has to go.
06:10Stealing our gold, guys.
06:13Fred can't afford to wait for Mother Nature's thaw, so he goes to war on the giant block of ice.
06:20I'll try and break the ice with the bucket.
06:23Oh, s***.
06:25Oh.
06:27Fire it up.
06:31We got water.
06:32That should facilitate this s*** to melt faster.
06:43Crazy.
06:44You're really going to treat a poor chainsaw like that?
06:46It's ice.
06:48But all Fred's attempts fail to clear the ice.
06:52This ice has really f***ed everything.
06:54It feels like we're coming here with our hands tied behind our backs and just getting punched in the face.
06:59It's not the way to start a season.
07:02We are so far behind schedule at this moment in time, so we have to take action and take control of the creek.
07:09We don't have any other way to do it, I think, but to go up there and try and make the creek go back where it belongs somehow.
07:16And that should facilitate melting the ice on the right side.
07:19The clock ticking on his season.
07:22Fred throws a Hail Mary.
07:26He deploys an excavator to create an ice dam,
07:31redirect the creek over the top of the ice sheet,
07:36and speed up the melt.
07:41All right, ice.
07:42We got ice.
07:44We got ice.
07:46We got ice.
07:47We got ice.
07:48All right, ice.
07:49You may be winning this battle, but we're going to win this war.
07:54It's just a little bit risky.
07:55If we sink this 220, we're freaking done.
08:00Take this corner a little bit.
08:06Whoa!
08:09Wow.
08:11That's like 20,000 pounds of ice we just broke.
08:14Yeah!
08:16Oh, now, smash it.
08:23Whoo!
08:29Oh, yeah.
08:30There we go.
08:31You've got a little bit of ice that's holding.
08:33Good looking that way.
08:35Fingers crossed it works.
08:43Wow.
08:45I got a pretty good ice jam here.
08:49I'm with the excavator.
08:52Just be really careful.
08:53Mm-hmm.
08:57Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
09:01F***.
09:05So there goes the ice dam.
09:10This is definitely not going to work.
09:13F***.
09:16F***.
09:22Forced to wait for the ice to thaw,
09:24Fred loses months of his season and his battle with Mother Nature.
09:30I'm just at the end of my rope, man.
09:38All right, here's the first push.
09:41When the Yukon Springs' rising temperatures melt the snow and ice...
09:47Surprised how thick that still is.
09:49...the miners rush to start sluicing...
09:51Fire it up!
09:52...and put gold in the box.
09:54Here we go!
09:59But the big thaw brings its own problems
10:03when the frozen ground turns into a sloppy sludge.
10:10The f***ing mud's killing us.
10:13The trucks are wallowing in the mud.
10:15Dozers getting stuck everywhere.
10:17It's a mess.
10:21Oh, f***.
10:23Come on!
10:27F***ing slimy-ass f***ing hell.
10:31F***ing hell.
10:35Damn it.
10:37God.
10:39In 2016, 21-year-old Parker Schnabel is under pressure
10:44to get on the gold when disaster strikes.
10:49You better get the f*** down here.
10:50Drill just sunk the hole.
10:51It's not looking good.
10:52F***.
10:54F***.
11:02Why around here does it always have to be worst-case scenario?
11:05That is monumental s*** up.
11:15Why around here does it always have to be worst-case scenario?
11:19Parker Schnabel is battling Mother Nature's spring thaw.
11:24That is monumental s*** up.
11:27His vital 46-ton excavator is stuck in the mud.
11:32What'd you do?
11:33Backed in a little, and then it was just a little too far.
11:37Next thing you know, it's sunk.
11:39You couldn't walk across that, like, with your legs,
11:43let alone a f***ing excavator.
11:45It really wasn't that bad when I got in there.
11:47There's nothing to even say about this,
11:49because of how big of a f*** up it is.
11:51I agree.
11:52Yeah, so just, let's just keep our f***ing mouths shut.
11:59Mitch!
12:01Mitch! Brennan!
12:02Grab a couple of hoes and help pull me out of here.
12:10You ready?
12:16We can get it.
12:21Come on.
12:24F***.
12:27Oh, man, it's really leaning now.
12:30Stop!
12:31Sinks.
12:33It's suctioned into the bottom, into all that mud.
12:36It's like quicksand, so you f***ing sink instantly.
12:40We just gotta get the mud out so we can break the suction.
12:44It's gonna be messy.
12:46Maybe we can just pull out some of this soft stuff here,
12:48and then we kind of work this down a little bit.
12:50Yeah.
12:52To help release this stricken excavator from the mud's vice-like grip,
12:56Mitch and Brennan dig a trench alongside it.
13:01It's moving.
13:04The machine's sinking as we speak.
13:06Come on, go, go, go.
13:07Get in it, Parker.
13:11Come on, baby.
13:12Come on.
13:16Come on.
13:26Come on.
13:32I should be able to make it.
13:42Whoo!
13:46Slick, Rick.
13:48Give it.
13:50I'm glad that worked.
13:51Yeah.
13:53Whoo!
13:58Back open for business.
14:00That's awesome.
14:01Let's get back to work.
14:06Along with the mud, spring's warm temperatures bring another threat.
14:13Oh, my, look at this.
14:15That halts miners in their tracks.
14:17Oh, this thing is raging right now.
14:20Snow melt, high up in the mountains.
14:23You're about ready to tip over.
14:25I'm gonna go.
14:26I'm going, I'm going, I'm going.
14:27Put the throttle on.
14:29Floods the valleys down below.
14:31Go!
14:33Wreaking havoc.
14:36****
14:39Uh-oh.
14:41No **** what?
14:43No **** what?
14:45In 2020, meltwaters raging down Hunker Creek smash a hole in the berm,
14:51protecting Tony Beat's hunker cut,
14:55submerging the gold-rich pay dirt under two and a half million gallons of water.
15:02It's a **** mess.
15:06Anyway, no use **** looking at it.
15:08Let's do it.
15:10Back it up, back it up.
15:12Just like that, keep it coming.
15:14Perfect, dump that **** thing, right there.
15:20Perfect.
15:27Tony first repairs the gap in the berm.
15:42****
16:04Watch the track.
16:06Absolutely.
16:08****
16:11Oh, ****.
16:18The actual ****.
16:21He has no **** track.
16:24Despite a crippled machine, one track, and almost no maneuverability,
16:29there's no stopping the king of the Klondike.
16:32He's having to use his boom and arm to lift himself up and walk the strong track.
16:39I mean, if Tony beats, he'll probably do it like it's just another day.
16:45Give me a couple of buckets with that mud and rocks then.
16:47Give me at least two more.
16:56Dump it in there.
16:57Dump it.
17:03Up, up, up, up, up.
17:04Up, up, up, up, up, up.
17:06Good.
17:2238 tons of mud and rock plugged the berm, sealing off the cut from the creek.
17:32Once he drains the cut, Tony will be back on track.
17:39We closed that water off from running in our cut quite nicely.
17:42Now it's just a matter of waiting for stuff to dry up a little bit,
17:46and then we'll run some dirt through the plant.
17:50If we get enough gold out of it, that'd be worth it.
17:56The Yukon summer.
17:58Here comes the Calvary.
17:59Bring some pay in here. Let's go.
18:02The halfway point of the season.
18:04We have to hammer down like never before.
18:07Dried out, easy to dig pay makes it peak time for catching gold.
18:15That's pretty good, isn't it?
18:17But temperatures soar to 90 degrees.
18:20Once again, we got a sunny day. It's hot.
18:25Turning the land into a tinderbox.
18:27This is hotter than the gates of hell.
18:30Sparking wildfires that rage through the region.
18:34This massive looks like an atomic bomb.
18:43On average, 100 wildfires blaze across the Yukon every fire season.
18:51In 2017, wildfires larger than the state of Rhode Island
18:57were visible from space.
19:00And a 350-acre inferno
19:04heads straight for Parker's claim.
19:12Don't know how hot it is, but it's hot.
19:15Dude, is something burning over there?
19:18Yeah, a forest fire, yep.
19:20Lightning or...
19:21Probably from the lightning.
19:22Yeah.
19:23That wind keeps blowing at us.
19:26That fire's going to move fast.
19:29Don't want to see my trailer go up in flames.
19:39All right, I'll be right down.
19:48The local fire marshal has arrived to discuss evacuation plans.
19:53It stays hot and dry, and it's inevitably going to get here.
19:56Okay, so we do have an evacuation plan in place.
19:59Yeah, so we just want to be a bit proactive that way,
20:01and the cat work would probably be to build some defense lines.
20:05Yeah, just let us know whatever you need.
20:06Okay, awesome.
20:09It's closed the distance. It went from 20km away to 7km.
20:14Holy s***.
20:16Yeah, she's f***ing coming.
20:18F***, could be here tonight.
20:19We need a cat out there.
20:21Okay.
20:22Fire lines, like try to get a barrier so it don't burn us out.
20:26So who's the man for that?
20:28It doesn't really matter to me.
20:30I thought Al's done this before, we could send him out there.
20:33I was not very worried about this until now.
20:36It's all going to depend on the wind direction.
20:39What the f***?
20:41That mountain just went out of view.
20:43Alright, the dozer's just up here.
20:45If you could take it up that ridge up there and start cutting fire lines.
20:50And they need to be at least 30ft wide so the fire doesn't jump over to our side,
20:54and we're f***ed.
20:56Sweet.
20:58Good?
20:59Yeah, we're good.
21:00Alright, sounds good.
21:02We're going to go build a fire line,
21:04protect everybody so everybody can keep mining.
21:08If it gets any closer,
21:09it could be the end of our season.
21:11Parker's crew member, Al Saluski,
21:14uses a dozer to rip out a fire line,
21:17a 30ft wide gap between the trees.
21:20When the wildfire hits,
21:22the break-in foliage should starve the flames of fuel,
21:26preventing it from reaching Parker's claim.
21:29Figured it'd be a quick pass up.
21:31Didn't look as bad as this.
21:33Alright, let's go.
21:34Figured it'd be a quick pass up.
21:36Didn't look as bad as this.
21:39F***ing get worse!
21:52Yeah, that looks pretty apocalyptic.
21:55A massive 350-acre forest fire is raging towards Parker's claim,
22:01threatening to wipe out his season.
22:04Their only hope?
22:06A fire line cut by dozer operator Al.
22:11What a f***ing kick in the balls.
22:14But the next day,
22:16with the fire still approaching,
22:18Al and other crew have cleared out.
22:23Well, there's the hole that used to have Al and old Frenchie's trailers.
22:30Obviously, the fire's pretty damn close.
22:34It's basically one valley away.
22:37If the wind starts blowing this way,
22:3920 mile an hour, it'll be here tonight.
22:45I'll stay.
22:47As long as we can still see,
22:49I'm willing to stick it out.
22:51What if the f***ing thing jumps overnight when we're sleeping?
22:53We can't get out of here.
22:55You're going to stick it out?
22:57Yeah.
23:00I'm not going anywhere,
23:02but I wouldn't blame any of you if you want to go.
23:04I was planning on taking off.
23:07Get out of here before the fire blocks our road.
23:14Get out of here.
23:16I hope my trailer's still here when I get back.
23:19I don't want to see a big charred pile of my belongings.
23:22I'll have a f***ing end of my season.
23:25It is now code red.
23:30Wildland firefighters install a sprinkler system
23:34capable of delivering over 100 gallons of water a minute.
23:41I think maybe I'll just hook my truck up to my trailer
23:44before I go to sleep tonight,
23:46in case I've got to evac.
23:55Never been so happy to see puddles in our yard?
23:58Dude.
24:00You know, I heard it started hitting last night
24:02as I was going to bed,
24:04and I just went to sleep with a smile.
24:06That was some hard rain, huh?
24:09I'd say that took care of the fire.
24:11I would think so.
24:13Sure looks like it anyways.
24:17The rain has stopped the wildfire
24:20just three miles from Parker's claim.
24:22But it's decimated over 400 acres.
24:27Hopefully now with that fire behind us,
24:29we can get back to focusing on getting gold out of the ground.
24:40Summer's torrential downpours can be a blessing and a curse.
24:46In 2016, Parker plans to move his wash plant,
24:51Slucifer, to a new cut.
24:54I think naming this thing Slucifer was the best idea.
24:57First time we set it up, it started pouring rain,
25:00and now we're trying to move it,
25:02and it's thunder and lightning.
25:04Good?
25:06So far, so good. She's rolling.
25:08While lightning strikes carry a low threat
25:11to heavy equipment operators,
25:13they can take out the machine's electronics.
25:17Parker risks dragging his $600,000 wash plant.
25:22It seems to be plummeting.
25:24I don't know what's going on.
25:26I don't know what's going on.
25:28I don't know what's going on.
25:30I don't know what's going on.
25:32Seems to be pulling along just fine.
25:34Up to a giant 60-foot-high pad.
25:39That's probably pretty damn close.
25:42That's f***ing close there.
25:47Slucifer!
25:58When the rains finally stop,
26:01Parker fires up Slucifer at its new home.
26:05All right, let's get everything rolling and shaking.
26:08Okay.
26:10Going to get everything moving.
26:19Hey!
26:21First scoop into Slucifer.
26:23Slucifer's hungry, and this cut's big,
26:25so it's all up to us to keep her fed.
26:32We're f***ing safe.
26:36Rick!
26:39Put this hole on the other side.
26:43Get out of the way, fellas.
26:47Woo!
26:49Rick's trying to save our f***ing berm here.
26:52Look down there.
26:54The heavy rainfall has saved Slucifer.
26:57Look down there.
26:59The heavy rainfall has saturated the wash plant pad,
27:04destabilizing its foundations.
27:07F*** this.
27:09Now, Slucifer is pumping out 3,300 gallons of water a minute,
27:15undermining the pad even more.
27:22Once the pad starts washing away like that,
27:24the only thing it's going to do is it's going to work itself back underneath the plant,
27:28and the plant's going to take a dive off the pad.
27:30Obviously, we can't have that happen.
27:33Rick attempts to break the force of water pummeling the berm.
27:38It's undermining pretty f***ing bad here.
27:41Oh, f***. What the f*** can we do here?
27:46Somebody give me a f***ing radio.
27:48Shut down.
27:50Don't put the f***ing scoop in. Just shut down.
27:55We've got to shut it down and reevaluate.
27:57We're about to lose everything here.
27:59Despite shutting down, torrential rain continues to erode the ground,
28:05threatening to swallow Slucifer whole.
28:09Hey, Rick, can you hear me?
28:11Roger.
28:13I've got this coarser stuff. You can shove that up around the top part.
28:19Pulling horse tailings this way is probably the best bet.
28:21We can, in a few hours, we'll be able to build a pad up in front.
28:26The loader is going to dump some tailings over the edge.
28:30Parker's going to pack it up against the plant,
28:33and then we'll just keep on doing that until it decides to stay.
28:43Let's fire back up.
28:46Second time's a charm.
28:52All right. Just add water.
29:03It ain't looking too bad.
29:05If we can get the bigger rock to hold up, we're going to be all right.
29:11Hey, we're at Slucifer making money.
29:13There you go.
29:14Good job, man.
29:22That tree's going down.
29:23Come on.
29:24All right, come back.
29:26Gold miners battle Mother Nature's fast-changing extreme weather.
29:34We're going into fall, and the conditions are getting pretty brutal.
29:39When summer ends, temperatures cool, and heavy rainfall returns.
29:45I spent puking rain for three days straight,
29:47and just making an absolute mess of the cut.
29:52Whoa, man.
29:54And the miners have also learned to expect the unexpected.
30:00F***ing mud.
30:02Hey, Kevin, shut it down.
30:05All we're pumping is frickin' mud.
30:0710-4.
30:08Shut the pump down.
30:13We don't have any fresh water.
30:15We don't have any fresh water.
30:16Our f***ing fresh water's off.
30:18We're sluicing out of a mud hole.
30:21Fall 2016, Colorado.
30:25Mother Nature throws Freddy Dodge a curveball.
30:29Hey, what's going on?
30:31F***ing water's off.
30:32Look at my mud puddles.
30:34Tell me you're frickin' kidding.
30:36F***.
30:37F***.
30:40The intake pond that feeds the wash plant is almost dry.
30:45And I have no water coming into the pond.
30:47So the water's getting lost somewhere up above us.
30:50Gotta figure out what the hell's going on.
30:55Freddy checks the intake pond's water source,
30:58a creek that lies on higher ground.
31:02Yeah, it's dry.
31:05That creek should be about a foot deep right now.
31:08And there's nothing coming down.
31:10It's not good.
31:12There's a big-ass problem up here somewhere.
31:20Hey, Todd, meet me a quarter of a mile west of Double Trouble.
31:24I found the real problem.
31:30What's going on here?
31:31The reason we're out of water,
31:33the frickin' beavers got this culvert plugged up.
31:36Diverted the water.
31:37Really?
31:38It's plugged solid.
31:40Now what do we do?
31:42I got a backhoe here.
31:44I'm gonna weight up it.
31:46You feed me the chain.
31:47Okay.
31:48And it'll drag it out.
31:50The beavers have built a dam inside the culvert,
31:54which channels clean water to the intake pond,
31:56stopping water flowing from the creek to the wash plant.
32:03I'm trying to add the flue.
32:06I kind of need water to mine gold,
32:08so let's get the son of a gun unplugged.
32:11You sure you want to do this?
32:13It's frickin' cold, boy.
32:16Freddy's plan?
32:17Okay, the end?
32:19Use a grappling hook attached to an excavator
32:22to haul out the debris.
32:24I don't want to go back in that s*** again.
32:27Give her hell, Todd.
32:29Everybody clear!
32:31Go ahead and pull her through!
32:38F***, f***, f***.
32:41Chopped up over the top.
32:43Oh, my God.
32:45Oh, my God.
32:47Oh, my God.
32:48Oh, my God.
32:50Oh, my God.
32:51Oh, my God.
32:53We'll have to do it again.
32:57We're gonna have to go underwater on this, Todd.
33:09Freddy!
33:12Freddy!
33:13You good?
33:23Woo-hoo!
33:25I'm okay!
33:41Pull!
33:45Keep going!
33:47Keep going!
33:50Keep going!
33:54Todd, is the water coming through?
33:57Good job, Freddy.
33:59I win, Beavers.
34:01We'll have water now.
34:06Us won.
34:07Beavers, zero.
34:15The plant's coming hot.
34:17Everybody clear!
34:18Fire it up!
34:24Let's make some gold.
34:32As fall turns to winter,
34:35only weeks of the mining season remain.
34:38It's cold in here.
34:40My feet are freezing.
34:42Days shorten, and temperatures dive below zero.
34:46Winter's around the corner.
34:48Time is getting shorter.
34:50Gotta keep the throttling going.
34:51In order to get the ounces.
34:54And the miners face the renewed challenge of frozen ground.
34:59It really hurts when you can stare at your pay and you can't get it,
35:03because it's frozen solid.
35:05It's like a block of concrete.
35:07If we don't get some pay, we're gonna be screwed.
35:10Eureka Creek, 2023.
35:14Brian McCoggin needs nearly 200 ounces of gold
35:18to hit his 1,500 ounce target.
35:22But his pay is locked in ice.
35:26We need some kind of a Hail Mary.
35:28So I had to come up with a plan, and the plan is on this trailer.
35:37What do we have here?
35:43What do you think?
35:44What in WTF?
35:46What do you think?
35:47What in WTF is this thing?
35:50Well, it's a drum cutter.
35:52They use them for ripping rock.
35:54It'll go through this frost like nothing.
35:56I'm thinking we can tunnel under the sides, somewhere around 20 feet.
36:00What do you think?
36:02I've never seen anything like this.
36:05By any chance have you ever seen this done in the frost?
36:08I've never seen nothing done like this ever.
36:10I'm anxious as hell to give it a spin.
36:13I can't think of any reason it won't work.
36:16Brian plans to use the drum cutter,
36:20armed with a hundred tungsten carbide teeth,
36:23attached to a spinning drum,
36:25to churn through the frozen gold-rich pay layer
36:29trapped in the wall of the cut.
36:32He'll then be able to run the pulverized pay dirt
36:35through the trommel.
36:38If we don't do it, we're shut down by the cold.
36:41This keeps you up.
36:43Okay, let's go.
36:46I'm going to have that thing fricking grinding rock in no time.
36:56Okay, so bring her down. We'll hook her up.
37:03Clear it up.
37:04Okay.
37:15This thing works unbelievable.
37:18Okay, I'm off to the cut.
37:26Man, I'm so stoked.
37:28This is like your first day of school right now.
37:30I'm just looking at this frozen wall and I'm coming hard.
37:34Let's clear this s*** up.
37:38Here we go.
37:48Yeah, baby! She's going.
37:51I'm going dead straight into solid frozen ground.
37:55This thing is awesome.
37:57I'm trying to hold back my giddiness.
38:00It's really mulched up to a nice size.
38:03I believe we'll be able to run this right through the plant frozen
38:06right now, right through.
38:09Get the rock trucks down here and start hauling.
38:16I'm going to run up there and watch the first few loads go through.
38:25If the frozen chunks of pay
38:27clump together, it could clog the wash plant.
38:33I'm watching for anything that's not rock, basically.
38:37Any pieces of clay that might still be frozen together.
38:43Everything's coming through thawed and clean, like spotless.
38:48Yeah, there's no big chunks in it at all.
38:51It's beautiful.
38:53So it's 100% success.
38:54Holy s***.
38:56I'm getting down there.
38:58I'm just hammering out as much as I can because this is incredible.
39:01I've never been able to stay late in the season like we're going to be able to do this year.
39:05This is a complete game changer for us.
39:08Thinking outside the box,
39:10Ryan has found a way to overcome the big freeze.
39:14Yep.
39:161,500. Here we go.
39:25We've got to dig up a lot of ground to get gold,
39:28but that doesn't mean we've got to leave it a mess.
39:31It's not always a constant battle against the elements.
39:35We're just trying to make sure that we do things right here.
39:38I want to have a future up here, and that means doing things the right way.
39:42Once a claim is mined out,
39:44miners are required to restore the land to its natural state.
39:49Good job, man.
39:51Thanks, buddy.
39:52Looks good.
39:54That looks good.
39:56I feel proud of what we've done here.
39:58It's an area that we've mined and reclaimed.
40:01We spent a lot of time building a whole new creek bed and putting in frisk structures
40:05and building the banks right and all the slopes right, and it's a complicated thing.
40:10And it looks good.
40:12Not only does it look good, but it's good habitat too.
40:15We've done a good job of putting things the way they should be.
40:18You're welcome, Otters!
40:22They love it here.
40:29We're into the minuses.
40:31Everything's got to keep moving.
40:33Even us.
40:35We've got to get it all through tonight because at this point we shut down or frozen out.
40:39By October, miners have stripped and prepared all their ground,
40:44and a final bounty in gold is just waiting to be sluiced.
40:49But winter threatens to shut down mining at any time.
40:54We could get frozen out any day.
40:57Miners must fight frozen ground and equipment.
41:02Salt is a f***ing rock.
41:05Snowstorms.
41:07This is next level.
41:10And subarctic temperatures as low as minus 18 degrees.
41:15Everything's going to keep freezing. Everything's going to keep breaking.
41:18As they face a desperate battle to get as much gold as possible.
41:23It's alive!
41:25If Mother Nature's going to stop us, it's going to take a lot more than this.
41:29We aren't leaving this piece of ground until we've got all the gold out of it.
41:33But we're running out of time.
41:362018.
41:38Seven degrees below on Indian River.
41:40Parker Schnabel has spent the season stripping ground and stockpiling pay.
41:46Now, he's determined to catch every last flake of gold through Slucifer
41:52before the big freeze ends his season.
42:00Okay, fire up!
42:05Power!
42:07Whoa!
42:09Whoa, whoa!
42:12This thing's frozen up solid.
42:14It's kind of a disaster, isn't it?
42:16Yeah.
42:18The conveyor stopped and just f***ed everything.
42:22Belt's frozen to the rollers.
42:24Oh, for f***'s sake.
42:27Parker's crew try to free the belt by cranking the frozen head roller.
42:36Sounds like you need some lube.
42:38Or somebody with some muscles that ain't old like mine.
42:41Send me out.
42:43We got muscles high here.
42:48Go one more time.
42:53Oh, lovely!
42:55Blow the breaker!
43:01Oh, here she goes!
43:03Yep, looks good.
43:04Good work, everybody!
43:07When it ices up, it's always this belt that gets us.
43:11There's got to be something about it.
43:13Yeah.
43:15Go get one of the big old tanks and plumb it in here and keep her hot as we can.
43:20Hopefully a little heat will delay the end for us a little bit.
43:24Parker's plan?
43:26Use a tiger torch to heat the head drum.
43:30This should keep the tailings belt moving in sub-zero temperatures.
43:35Let's go ahead and fire this thing up.
43:41The first shot over the bow for the winner here.
43:44But, I mean, we've got to keep this lucid.
43:48As night falls, the crew keep running in temperatures ten below
43:53to stop Slucifer from freezing solid.
43:58This pay is starting to get quite chunky.
44:01It's freezing up on us a bit.
44:03But they usually break up pretty good.
44:06Holy ****.
44:11****, there's no **** dirt on the belt.
44:18What's going on?
44:20Got a gem in the hopper!
44:25What's going on?
44:27We've got a gem in the hopper!
44:29What's going on?
44:31We've got a gem in the hopper!
44:33What's going on?
44:36What's going on?
44:38Fist.
44:40Oh, ****.
44:42****.
44:44Must be a chunk in the feeder.
44:46It's not good, man.
44:48Oh!
44:50Big **** chunk of **** in here.
44:54We better hurry because the plant's going to freeze up if we don't.
44:59Tyson Lee attacks the block of frozen pay with a sledgehammer.
45:04Oh, yeah.
45:06Yeah, buddy.
45:08Think it'll go through now?
45:10Give it a try.
45:12Holy ****, look at that!
45:15Oh, ****.
45:20****.
45:22****.
45:26Plant's on fire!
45:27Plant's on fire!
45:30When Parker shut down Slucifer to free the hopper, the tailings conveyor stopped.
45:36The tiger torch left heating the stationary rubber belt has set it on fire.
45:43We'll need another one. Go get another one!
45:45That's the only one we got. Should I turn on the water?
45:48Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
45:53Oh, ****.
45:55We're going to need some help.
45:57Okay, I'm going to turn on the water.
46:18****.
46:20It all happened so fast, man. Did you get a look at any damage?
46:24There's a lot to that ****, I'm sure.
46:27We just need to make sure it's out and come back in the morning and assess.
46:31But honestly, right now, I'm tired.
46:35At first light, Parker arrives to see if they can fight on.
46:44Man.
46:48The belt smoked, and now it's got four inches of ice on top of it.
46:55It's going to be tough.
46:57It's going to be tough.
46:59It's going to be tough.
47:00And now it's got four inches of ice on top of it.
47:04I think she's fried, Dean.
47:06Pretty much.
47:08Fire and ice.
47:10It's been a hell of a season.
47:14No matter how hard miners push in the Yukon,
47:19Mother Nature eventually wins out.
47:23But the spoils of this hard-fought war are extraordinary.
47:27We have 8,309.75 ounces.
47:33Battling the elements, one season after another.
47:37Wow. That's a good **** pour, isn't it?
47:40****, huh?
47:42Gold Rush miners have hauled in more than 100,000 ounces of gold.
47:47This represents you guys' bonuses.
47:50Today, worth more than $230 million.
47:55You guys are the best!