- 6/21/2025
#ShowMovies
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00If you've ever seen a big amount of gold,
00:06that's enough to turn anybody into a gold hound for sure.
00:12It's my second year being a gold miner and I love it.
00:17My dad bought this property thinking that it would produce a lot of gold.
00:22Then we have none.
00:26The gold here is flood gold.
00:30It's so super hard to catch because it's so fine.
00:33We haven't got enough flow going right now.
00:36All of our gold is washing away because we don't have the right equipment.
00:41The mine is Andrew's future, so it has to succeed.
00:44I've got stuff all over the place that's half together
00:48and I don't really know how to make it work.
00:51Ready in one. This is a plea.
00:54This operation is on the edge right now.
00:57If we're not able to get on the gold, we're finished here.
01:02Freddie Dodge.
01:03I'd rather have gold in the bank than gold in the mountain.
01:06And Juan Ibarra.
01:07Not bad for built in the field.
01:09Want to make you rich.
01:11It turns your dream out here into a reality.
01:13In the past five years, the value of gold has doubled.
01:19There's a $3,000 nugget right there.
01:21But rookie miners find it more elusive than ever.
01:26If we don't recover more gold, then we could lose everything.
01:30But there is hope.
01:32Miracles, they do happen.
01:34To turn desperation into fortune.
01:37Freddie and Juan have one week.
01:39What you just did, this genius.
01:41To deliver a golden payday.
01:43They have a future and they know what they need to do.
01:55You know, it's always nice to be back in Canada, Freddie.
01:57Yeah, and I love British Columbia.
01:59It sounds like Travis is in pretty rough shape financially.
02:02Yeah, you were saying a little bit about that.
02:04He's got a ton of money sunk into the mine site.
02:06And he really hasn't produced much, huh?
02:08No, he hasn't.
02:09So who's Travis out here mining with, Freddie?
02:11He's out here with his son.
02:13You know, there's easier ways to have a father-son trip
02:15than going out and working your tail off
02:17and losing a bunch of money.
02:19Definitely, Juan.
02:21In British Columbia,
02:23Freddie and Juan are en route to the Long Bar Mine,
02:27where father and son team, the Allens,
02:31work a 3,000-acre claim along the Fraser River.
02:36Historically, the Fraser River's produced
02:38a lot of gold over the years.
02:40Yeah, but you know as well as I do,
02:42gold's where you find it.
02:43It's not everywhere.
02:45We've got a really tight corner, Caravan.
02:48All these mines we go to there,
02:50they're in rough spots to get to.
02:52But that's just gold, huh?
02:54Yeah.
02:57In the 1860s, the Caribou Gold Rush
03:00drew thousands of miners up the Fraser Valley
03:04in search of fine gold flakes
03:07along the river bars and benches.
03:09Those who endured the unforgiving terrain
03:12pulled in over $8.5 billion worth of gold
03:16at today's prices.
03:20Another mine, huh, Juan?
03:21Yeah, good to be here.
03:23Hi, guys.
03:24How you doing?
03:25How you doing?
03:26Hi, I'm Travis Allen.
03:27I'm Juan.
03:28Nice to meet you.
03:29Good to meet you.
03:30Andy?
03:31Good to meet you, Charles.
03:32Good to meet you as well.
03:33How you guys doing?
03:34Doing all right.
03:35How are you doing?
03:36My son and I are down here
03:37hacking away at Long Bar.
03:38Trying our hardest.
03:39Make it work.
03:40How long have you guys been out here?
03:42This is our second year of mining here.
03:44How much gold you do?
03:45Last season, that's the thing,
03:48we only did about five ounces of gold.
03:50We hadn't figured out how really the ground worked here quite yet.
03:55We've learned through trial by error that it's mostly flood gold here.
04:02Small gold then.
04:03It's all very small gold.
04:05Flower gold.
04:06Do you have any of it we can look at?
04:07Yeah, you bet.
04:08This is what we're chasing here.
04:09This is Fraser River gold, some of the purest gold.
04:12What's the purity of it?
04:13High 90s, you know, closest to the 100% you're going to get.
04:18My family has always been in the mining and logging industry.
04:22When I was 16 years old,
04:24I wanted to leave the family logging outfit
04:27to learn how to gold mine.
04:28I met an old fella from Sam at RMBC and joined his crew
04:32and I literally saw five gallon pails full of gold.
04:36Oh, that was totally the minute I became a gold junkie.
04:40I loved being on gold mines.
04:42It's awesome.
04:43I'm really good at running the excavator
04:46and feeding the plant.
04:48I'm pretty confident about that.
04:49Two years ago, Travis set up Long Bar Mine
04:53to create a legacy for his son.
04:55I have learning disabilities,
04:57but I know I can become a mine boss.
05:00I'm trying to show my dad,
05:01I'm trying to put as much effort into it as I can.
05:04Andrew's my whole world.
05:06I'm trying to install the work ethic that I have
05:09and give him the mining experience he needs
05:12so that he's able to thrive and succeed in this world
05:15just like anyone else.
05:18What's your investment out here?
05:20Well, we're in the ballpark of, you know, $400,000
05:24spent in the last two seasons here.
05:27You only got $11,000 worth of gold last year, huh?
05:30Yeah.
05:31A long ways away.
05:32Yeah, a long ways away.
05:33Yeah.
05:34My son and I are out here picking away at this ourselves,
05:36trying to make it work the best we can.
05:38Now, what's your goal for this season?
05:40My goal for this season is 25 ounces.
05:44What's on the line here?
05:46Well, it's kind of everything on the line this year, Freddie.
05:50A good friend of mine, he's owed over $50,000,
05:53and if we don't get on the gold this year,
05:57Andrew and I are looking at, you know,
06:00possibly losing something in the value of $50,000,
06:03you know, an excavator or a loader,
06:05we wouldn't be able to bounce back from something like that.
06:07So without the gold, we're not going to make it, Freddie.
06:10Gold's money and money is gold.
06:11Yes, sir.
06:12That's why we're desperately in need of a hand
06:14to get on track here, so.
06:17What we like to do is come in.
06:18We'll do a four-hour test run.
06:19We want to watch the plant.
06:20We're not going to get involved,
06:21and that way we can kind of get together
06:23and figure out, you know, what we can do to help you.
06:25Thanks, Juan.
06:26Well, let's go look at the plant.
06:32So out of curiosity, what's all this about?
06:35Well, my son and I have been buying stuff
06:39all over the place at auctions,
06:41trying to piece together a good operating gold mine,
06:45but I don't really know how to put it together
06:47the way that it's supposed to.
06:49It looks like you got most of it,
06:50but there's a lot of little odds and ends that you don't have
06:52that are kind of important.
06:54Yep.
06:55Ideally, we would love to do that one,
06:56but I just don't know that we have enough time for that.
06:59You know, when Travis told us that he's 400K in the hole here,
07:02I can see it.
07:03He's got tons of equipment that he doesn't even use,
07:05but, you know, Gold's Fever does that.
07:08So how long have you been running this small plant?
07:10That's what we've been running all season.
07:12To be honest with you, it's been a struggle.
07:14We've been managing to do a couple of grams a day,
07:18doing 12 yards a shift type of thing.
07:21So do you own this trommel?
07:23This plant I'm just renting.
07:25What's the payment on that?
07:27$2,500 a month.
07:29That's got us eating out of cans for dinner.
07:32Well, let's run for four hours and see what kind of gold we get.
07:35We'll show you what a four-hour test run will give you.
07:38Let's get this show on the road.
07:40Start the generator.
07:46Here comes the dirt.
07:48First bucket, Juan.
07:49There it is.
07:50Washing for Freddie and Juan
07:52does feel a little bit like going to school,
07:54but respect their knowledge so much.
07:57Travis feeds virgin pay onto a conveyor,
08:01feeding a 10-foot rotating trommel,
08:04spray bars inside wash the pay from the gravel
08:08into a six-foot-wide dual sluice run
08:11where the gold should be recovered.
08:14Water for the plant is pumped from a small holding pond
08:18and recycled from the sluice back into the pond.
08:26Looking at it right now,
08:27we can see a handful of problems already.
08:29The sluice?
08:30That sluice box is about four times too big for that plant.
08:33They don't have enough water to carry that wide a sluice.
08:36That's not enough water for one side, let alone two sides.
08:39No.
08:40And you can look at the drum.
08:41I bet over 50% of it's fogged up.
08:43I bet you're right.
08:46I'm worried about the ground.
08:47We can go out there and make them the most efficient plant in the world.
08:50But if there's no gold to catch in it,
08:52Yeah.
08:53Yeah.
08:54All you're doing is washing rocks.
08:56How's our trommel looking, son?
08:58Keep a close eye on the tailing.
09:00It's building up.
09:01You just sweep them away with your head.
09:05So the reason I have to do this by hand
09:08is because our angle is not down far enough.
09:12We're not able to lose our tailing.
09:15He's got to go in there and clean that out by hand.
09:18How long is that going to last before the reward is completely out, right?
09:21No, that's a bad deal, Freddie.
09:24There's no one else I'd rather be out here working with than my son.
09:27This is more rewarding than anything.
09:30Especially if we can bring home some gold.
09:34Better solution!
09:35I wanted my son to be able to take the mine over.
09:38So this is going to be a super charge for Andrew's mining education.
09:43Working at the logging outfit is not the same as having your own gold mine.
09:51How long have we been running, Fred?
09:53Roughly two hours.
09:54I don't know that that pond's going to make four hours, Roy.
09:57Well, you can look at how much tailings we have in it right now.
09:59Yep.
10:03This water's now turning into a milkshake, right?
10:06So when that water gets thick, that really fine gold like they have here,
10:10you tend to start losing it.
10:12The thicker the water gets, the more gold you lose.
10:15That's what happens when you sluice out of a mud puddle.
10:20The water's so thick now that, uh,
10:23I'll go tell him last bucket and we'll let that feeder clear out.
10:26Yeah, sounds good.
10:28Hey, Travis!
10:29Last bucket!
10:32Shut it all down.
10:33Let's see what we got.
10:34Can't kill the pump!
10:40Look at all of our black sands and gold that's piled up here,
10:45uh, out at the end of the sluice run.
10:47So, you know, definitely we're losing it.
10:50Some of the bigger stuff's here.
10:51A couple little pockets.
10:53It's all up at the top though, it seems, eh?
10:55Do you see any color down that low in the small stuff?
10:58I haven't yet.
10:59You guys want to get this cleaned up?
11:01We'll meet up later.
11:02You bet.
11:03We'll let you know how we made out.
11:04Okay.
11:05Sounds like a plan.
11:07I've seen other people, you know, in similar situations.
11:10People get gold fever and sometimes bad things happen, right?
11:14You throw a lot of your money away and that's what I'm seeing here right now.
11:17So hopefully Juan and myself can help them.
11:30Be curious to see, huh?
11:32It's gonna be interesting.
11:35At the Long Bar Mine in British Columbia,
11:38the results are in for the two-hour test run on the Allen's wash plant rental.
11:44How we doing, gentlemen?
11:45Good.
11:46Hi, Freddy.
11:47Hi, Juan.
11:48So here's our dried gold, Fred.
11:51Okay.
11:53Let's see what we got.
12:00.03.
12:03.03 ounces worth just $69.
12:09It's not good.
12:10Not good at all.
12:11It's not enough to cover the fuel that you used.
12:14Not enough at all.
12:16You can't continue to mine that way.
12:17No, definitely not.
12:18You know, the more you run, the quicker you're gonna go broke.
12:20Yep.
12:21That's a hard way to go broke.
12:22At this rate, a fast food job would be paying you a lot more.
12:26I appreciate the harsh honesty of things for sure, Freddy.
12:31But hope is not lost.
12:33We're gonna sit down and have a chat and see what we can't do with the plant.
12:36That would be fantastic.
12:37My son and I really need the help at this point, as you can tell.
12:40Yeah, you do.
12:43Here's your gold, sir.
12:45Don't spend it all in one place.
12:47Thank you, Freddy.
12:48Well, let's go have a chat, Fred.
12:50Yep.
12:52Not good, Juano.
12:53Nope.
12:55We didn't want to burst their bubble, but $70 worth of gold is not acceptable.
12:59Not even close.
13:00So it was a little bit of a reality check, but sometimes that's needed.
13:05Having this bad news from Freddy and Juan is definitely humbling.
13:09I think if we can focus on making a few fixes, there's still a chance of saving the season.
13:21They're sure some nice guys.
13:22And I love the fact that he's doing this to be able to set his son up.
13:25It's always good to see a family operation.
13:28But, you know, they're kind of in a rough shape.
13:31They're in really rough shape.
13:32Yeah.
13:33That plant that they got is basically a prospecting plant.
13:35It's one step up from a hobby mine right now.
13:37Uh-huh.
13:38And really, with the gold that they have, it's not gonna cut it.
13:40Yeah.
13:41Not enough.
13:42And it's gonna plug on him nonstop.
13:43Yeah.
13:44But really, more than that, it's not his plant.
13:46Uh-huh.
13:47He's renting it right now.
13:48He's got money going out the door before he's got money coming in.
13:50So, I'm really thinking that, you know, he has all those parts there.
13:54Let's set him up with his own plant.
13:55Yeah.
13:56He's kind of like a used equipment hoarder.
13:59He's got a bunch of stuff laying around, but none of it works.
14:02Well, none of it, it's all mismatch, right?
14:03Uh-huh.
14:04You know, like none of it was really designed for each other.
14:06But, I think with what he has there, it's kind of a good start.
14:09I agree with you.
14:10I think what we can do is take that old shaker deck and repurpose it.
14:13We would have to build a new catch pan for the bottom.
14:15And this green has no water system.
14:17So, we're going to have to put spray bars on it.
14:19Mm-hmm.
14:20We'll have to build a manifold then, Juan.
14:21Yep.
14:22And we should also modify and reuse that yellow sluice box he's got sitting there.
14:26That's perfect.
14:27But, we can only use one side of the sluice.
14:29Yep.
14:30He doesn't have enough water to run full width.
14:32But, if we get it into one, then we'll be in good shape.
14:35It's a lot of work.
14:36But, at the end of the day, he's doing this to be able to set his son up.
14:39So, I'd be happy to waive our labor fee on this.
14:42He covers the material.
14:43We cover the labor.
14:44I'm good with that.
14:45Yeah.
14:46Done.
14:47All right.
14:48Let's do it.
14:49In an ambitious plan, Freddie and Juan will send back the trommel renter and resurrect Travis's
14:56boneyard shaker deck.
14:59A new hopper will be fitted to feed the plant.
15:03They'll install a complete water system to wash the peg and make the pond four times bigger.
15:12The lower screen will be replaced to trap extra fine gold.
15:17And a new distribution chute will direct gold-bearing concentrates into one side of Travis's second-hand sluice.
15:32Hey, Fred.
15:33Hey, Juan.
15:34How's it going, guys?
15:35Doing okay.
15:36We went and talked things over.
15:37Yeah.
15:38We came up with a couple ideas.
15:40One of the things that we really want to do is, whatever we do here, we want to make sure that we do it on your plant.
15:44You don't own the trommel, so we'd be fixing up somebody else's equipment if you lost it.
15:48Yeah.
15:49So we want to work on your screen that you have, that you own.
15:52That's fantastic news.
15:54But it's going to be a lot more work than what we anticipated.
15:56We're going to have to build a feeder pan.
15:57Then at the bottom, we're actually going to have to build a funnel to be able to funnel all that concentrated material into the sluice box.
16:03And reuse that yellow sluice box, but only half of it, because you don't have enough water to run six foot of box.
16:09You get enough water for three feet.
16:11We still have to do a water system.
16:13We'll have to build a manifold.
16:14We'll have to build spray bars.
16:15But I think all in all, that's going to be a better plan for you guys.
16:18Absolutely.
16:19And you own it.
16:20Yes, sir.
16:21And what we came to is $5,100.
16:26And that's strictly material.
16:28We talked about the labor.
16:30We're going to donate our labor 100%.
16:32Well, guys, I really appreciate that.
16:35That helps us huge.
16:38$5,100 is a pretty big number.
16:41I'd say send this trommel back so you aren't paying $2,500 a month.
16:46Yeah, I agree.
16:48It's a deal.
16:49Thank you, Freddie.
16:50Meet us down there.
16:51You guys can help us.
16:52Absolutely.
16:53Yeah, we're going to need your help to get this done.
16:55We'll teach you some welding skills.
16:56All right.
16:57Excellent.
16:59All right.
17:00Good stuff, son.
17:01Well, let's get to work, huh?
17:02Yep.
17:05Freddie and Juan have less than four days to resurrect a boneyard wash plant and turn the
17:11Allen's fortunes around.
17:16What do you think?
17:17I'm going to start cutting.
17:18Okay.
17:19I'll do that screen and then the discharge shoots.
17:21I might go look at some ground real quick.
17:23Yep.
17:24All righty.
17:25Let's make it happen.
17:26We're going to cut this out of one sheet of steel.
17:32First, Juan fabricates an extra fine gold screen for the new wash plant.
17:38Right now, they're screening way too big for the gold that they have.
17:41So we're going to cut that down a little bit.
17:43The better that your classification is, the better the concentration is going to be.
17:46And you won't be having that larger material compete with that smaller gold and pushing
17:50it out of the sluice box.
17:52To recover the fine gold, Juan's plasma cutter precisely carves 3,000 1 8th inch holes, four
18:01times smaller than the shaker's original screen.
18:04We're going to have about five hours of cut time on the screen, but we don't have any room
18:08for error.
18:09Right now is not a time to make mistakes.
18:11I'm extremely concerned about the amount of gold in these gravels.
18:26So I feel like I'm in a little bit of a hornet's nest here.
18:32Freddie's first priority?
18:34Get eyes on the ground Travis has been mining.
18:37Are all these your tailings or was somebody in here before you?
18:41No, this is my tailings from last year.
18:44Whose tailings are those?
18:46They're all mine.
18:47And you only got five ounces out of all this?
18:49Yep.
18:50Oh man.
18:51Yep.
18:52I wish I would have known when to quit.
18:54Rough estimate, you ran 5,000 yards.
18:58Wow.
18:59I had no idea we washed that much gravel.
19:01There's a tenth of an ounce per hundred roughly.
19:03Travis needs to recover ten times this amount of gold to turn a profit.
19:08Travis wants, you know, this to be a legacy for his son.
19:12And as of right now, I don't know if there's enough gold here for that to really happen.
19:20Did you test any of this material?
19:22We just weren't testing the way we should have been testing and we ended up washing gravels that were not great.
19:28This is your most important tool out here to start with.
19:33There's one of these in every piece of heavy equipment.
19:36Right?
19:37Whether it's a loader, whether it's a dozer, whatever.
19:39Every piece of equipment that I owned had a gold pan in it.
19:43And if you run across something that looks neat, you know, get out and pan it.
19:47It gives you kind of an indicator on...
19:50Direction you're going.
19:51Yeah.
19:52So this is what the bank looks like when you cut into it.
19:56That's what I want to see.
20:00It's definitely been reworked by water, which is a good thing.
20:04See our flat rocks?
20:06So when water flows, it can't stand up, right?
20:09Your flat rocks go flat and they shingle up.
20:12The flat rocks are a sign that the gold-bearing Fraser River once flowed through this part of the cut.
20:20The layer at your knee is the best that I can see.
20:23Would you go a little deeper and see what's down there?
20:26Try it and see.
20:27You know, it may change.
20:29There may be a layer under this that has a different matrix to it.
20:33You aren't done yet.
20:34Just keep testing.
20:36Absolutely.
20:37Thank you, Freddie. Looking forward to it.
20:38You're welcome.
20:39My worry is he's got gold fever.
20:41And when he sees, you know, three specks of gold, he gets excited.
20:44Hopefully the things we're teaching Travis here, he'll keep embedded and he'll get on the gold.
20:51We've got a lot of stuff to do today, so we just got to get rolling here.
21:05On the Long Bar mine in British Columbia.
21:08Just left first.
21:10In a bid to save their mining operation, the Allens move their scrap shaker deck to Juan's fabrication base camp in the Boneyard, where it can be worked on more easily.
21:22You're coming with us, big girl.
21:24You can feel the strain even on the undercarriage.
21:31Don't get too close, sunshine.
21:34Big load.
21:35It's heavy.
21:36Let's set it right here.
21:41Perfect.
21:42Right there.
21:46Shaker deck in place, Juan starts work on a new hopper.
21:51The hopper is going to be where we drop the material in with the excavator, and that way it can feed on top of the screen.
21:56But also it'll have a water port on the back to be able to push that material in.
22:00If I can get everything cut out between today and tomorrow morning, hopefully we'll be able to start getting things on the plant in the next day or so.
22:07It's going to be a lot of build.
22:12It's definitely faster to refurbish half this loose box than to build a whole new one.
22:17I'm going to put all new angle clips in, because you see how this one's already bent up?
22:21Yes, sir.
22:22What's just welded on the top, so once you use a wedge on this three or four times, it's going to snap them off.
22:27So we need 14 of these.
22:29Sure, Freddy.
22:30No worries.
22:31Nothing is cheap at all in gold mining.
22:40The sluice boxes were around $5,000 each.
22:44So it's good to see them being put to use instead of just sitting there getting rusty.
22:49Hey, Andrew.
22:50I might get you to grind for me where these angle clips are going to go.
22:54Sure.
22:55Grind that whole area.
22:56You bet.
22:57Like that?
22:58Close enough.
22:59Did you enjoy working with your son?
23:14I really enjoy working with my son, actually.
23:17Good.
23:18We're very close.
23:19I can definitely tell you guys are pretty close.
23:22I pretty much raised him since I could hold him in one hand by myself.
23:26It was tough as a single father.
23:30The early years were really good.
23:32The older he got, I started to see changes in Andrew that had to do with his special needs.
23:38It's a type of autism that not very many children have.
23:43But he's got what he needs here to make it.
23:46I will help him to learn the ropes so that he's able to take the reins.
23:51This is protection for him, for his future, for both of us.
23:58Thanks, Andrew.
23:59Well, I think it looks pretty good.
24:00I'll start welding on this.
24:02I'm just trying to get in here on the good, level ground so we can get all the good pay.
24:19While work continues on the sluice, Travis follows up on Freddie's tips in the long bar cut.
24:26Finding out that our gold averages are so low is hard to take.
24:31But like Freddie said, try to follow the pay layers.
24:34That's interesting, bigger rock here.
24:39Let's go a little deeper.
24:41Looks like we got an obvious change here.
24:44I think I'm going to go get a gold pan and test some of this pay.
24:52Freddie had some great advice.
24:54If we're breaking the ground, we should be panning it before it hits any kind of a wash plant.
24:59Starting to get down to the good stuff now.
25:04It might be small, but it has gold.
25:10Freddie, I found another layer.
25:12I thought I'd show it to you before I take it down too far and lose any.
25:16Don't be scared of losing a speck.
25:18Time's money, right?
25:19Yeah.
25:20It's got gold in it.
25:2710, 12 colors.
25:30That's better than the other stuff by far.
25:33Dig it up.
25:34We'll run it.
25:35All right, Freddie, thanks.
25:36No worries.
25:41So right now I'm working on the manifold.
25:43These are the side pieces.
25:44And we'll just build a big rectangle that'll be the manifold.
25:47One's manifold will distribute pressurized water to the spray bars above the hopper and paste screens to separate the extra fine gold from river gravels.
26:00Well, there it is.
26:02That'll be the four inch coming in and then three inch and a half valves for spray bars, two inch valves for a spray bar on the back of the feeder.
26:11Also, when he gets a bigger pump, he can cut a hole in here and put a six inch port so he can run a bigger pump.
26:22You want to cut some carpets, Andrew?
26:24Sure.
26:25You can see we're six foot wide and eight feet long, right?
26:28In the boneyard, Freddie and Andrew make new sluice mats to trap extra fine long bar gold.
26:35So we need four four foot by three foot sections of carpet.
26:40Okay.
26:42Grab the tape.
26:44Measure twice, cut once.
26:45Yep.
26:47So just follow your line and cut them.
26:48Yep, I will.
26:52I am very excited to learn things from Freddie and Juan.
26:56It's important for me if I wanted to become a mine boss.
27:00Freddie, I got some finished carpet there for you.
27:02Alrighty.
27:03So let's put them in.
27:04Sure.
27:06Watching Andrew work next to Freddie is amazing.
27:08He's learning from me and he's learning from Freddie and Juan.
27:11Now let's grab our miner's moss and put it up top.
27:14I think these are all footsteps going forward for him taking the reins one day.
27:19There you go.
27:26Hey Juan, what do we got going on here?
27:28So this is the beginning of the shoot.
27:30The material that's been screened properly will drop into this and then all the oversized material can go right off the front of it out into the muck bay.
27:37Uh-huh.
27:39To keep gold concentrates clear from the tailings, the new shoot will make a 90 degree turn into the sluice box.
27:47Can I help you with anything?
27:49Have you ever done any welding before?
27:50I was pretty good when I, back in high school when I was doing it.
27:53If you want to get that welding coat on, those gloves and that hood.
27:56Yeah, sure.
28:03Well, let's see what you got.
28:04So you strike it like a match.
28:06Yeah.
28:08A little closer, a little closer.
28:09A little closer.
28:10There you go.
28:11Perfect.
28:13Let's weld up to there and see how you do.
28:15Okay.
28:19It's always a big worry of mine to take on such an ambitious build knowing that we only have a few days to do it.
28:24I'm hoping with Andrew and Travis here, we should be able to get most of this done, but we'll see.
28:31There you go.
28:32Good job.
28:33Well, we just got the shoot all welded up, so we're going to get it installed.
28:43This bottom goes on the bottom of this.
28:46Okay.
28:47Let's get this side up.
28:49Can we just twist it?
28:50Yeah.
28:51Keep going.
28:52Whoa!
28:53Lift it up.
28:54Tight.
28:56That pan's all up.
29:00With a gap like that, water's going to splash out of it.
29:02It's definitely going to be hard for Freddy to be able to weld it in place, because right now it's probably got three quarters of an inch of gap.
29:08The Boneyard shaker deck has warped with age, and they can't connect the new chute.
29:15When they built it, they didn't build it strong enough to be able to hold its shape, so we're dealing with it now.
29:19Let's think of putting a jack off there, if I can reach in there.
29:34Yep.
29:35At the Long Bar Mine, Freddy and Juan fight to connect the new discharge chute to the beat-up shaker deck.
29:43Any gaps could leak fine gold.
29:47Underneath the screen, it's bowed.
29:49So right now, Freddy's trying to pull that chute down to be able to get it close to the new discharge chute that we built, to be able to weld it in place.
29:56Well, we've got it pulled down most of the way, and I'm going to run a bead of silicone through it to seal it up.
30:12We're just stopping a little bit of water splash.
30:15With the gap below closed, the sides must also be welded.
30:20Okay, Juan.
30:22Hot tack it?
30:23Try it.
30:24I'll hit her right here.
30:26It'll take me a second to bridge it.
30:30Yep.
30:35One more.
30:36Okay.
30:40Yep.
30:44Perfect.
30:45Yep.
30:46That's what you call hot tacking.
30:48When you've got a gap, get a tack in the middle of it, hit it with a hammer, and smash that weld in, and it'll pull the weld in.
30:55So I had a gap like that.
30:56Now it's pretty tight.
30:58That's one of the big pieces we had to put in.
31:00We still have a hopper we have to install still, and the complete water system.
31:03So we're getting closer, but we still got a lot to do.
31:05How's it going, Travis?
31:06Going good, Fred.
31:07How are you doing?
31:08Oh, doing all right.
31:09Good stuff.
31:10It's starting to come along.
31:11Little by little.
31:12Today, we've got to get water in here, because without water, we can't sluice.
31:16Absolutely.
31:17Because we only ran two hours last time, and it silted up.
31:18I'd like to raise that dam on the far side of the pond.
31:19Raise it another foot or so, so we can get more water.
31:20For sure.
31:21All righty, I'm gonna get to work.
31:22Thanks, Freddie.
31:23I appreciate it.
31:24Talk to you soon.
31:25To pump cleaner water into the plant and improve fine gold recovery, Travis raises the earth
31:32dam to make the pond four times bigger.
31:35Travis, he had only been able to get the water in here.
31:38We're going to get to work.
31:39I'm going to get to work.
31:40Thanks, Freddie.
31:41I appreciate it.
31:42Talk to you soon.
31:43To pump cleaner water into the plant and improve fine gold recovery, Travis raises the
31:50earth dam to make the pond four times bigger.
31:53Travis, you know, he may not know everything about gold mining, but one thing's for sure
31:59he's a good operator on that track hoe.
32:01He's one of the guys I trust.
32:03Raised it up a little higher and packing it in a little tighter and see if we can't
32:08make it hold water.
32:10I think it's going to be high enough for now.
32:13Hey, Freddie, what do you think of the bird?
32:16She looks good, man.
32:18We're one step closer, Freddie.
32:22We'll hook everything up and then start pumping.
32:25I'm going to get back at it.
32:26Okay, Freddie.
32:34At the cut trailer...
32:36This is the beginning of the spray bar.
32:38...Juan fabricates new spray bars to wash the pay gravels.
32:42Just use the plasma table to blast out all my holes.
32:45That way it was a little easier.
32:46Instead of having to go in there individually, uh, drill every hole, we have four bars that
32:51we have to build.
32:52So it's quicker this way, just to set up the table and burn them out.
32:55The spray bars are in place.
33:00We still got to get the screen in.
33:03And then, you know, we also, there's that thing about running it.
33:10Pick up on that screen so Juan can get his forks under it.
33:13You bet.
33:14Go ahead, Juan-o.
33:15The Allens help Freddie transport and install the 200-pound fine gold screen.
33:21Let's just slide it on manual, guys.
33:25It's all yours, Juan.
33:26Thank you, Fred.
33:27Watch out, buddy.
33:28Coming up.
33:30Keep going back.
33:35Shove her up there, sir.
33:37Watch your fingers.
33:40Now give her great...
33:41One, two, three.
33:42Go!
33:44There we go.
33:46Got her.
33:47She's all coming together.
33:49Piece by piece.
33:51Coming up.
33:52The final piece of the puzzle is Juan's new hopper.
33:56Go!
34:04That's it, Juan.
34:05That's it, buddy.
34:06Well, this build took a little longer than what we expected,
34:08but now it's a mad dash to get the plant dragged back over.
34:12Stick up. Stick up.
34:14Stick up.
34:15Stick up.
34:16Travis moves the upgraded shaker 300 yards to the pad for the second test run.
34:23Actually looks like a plant now.
34:25A week ago, this wash plant was just sitting in the corner resting.
34:30It really looks good to see it back together.
34:36Curl your bucket in.
34:37Tuck it in.
34:39Come in.
34:40One of the most exciting days for a gold miner is happening right now.
34:46Go!
34:47Track in a little bit more.
34:51Go!
34:52We're in good shape, huh?
34:54Perfectly center.
34:56Perfect.
34:59Both you and Juan, you're going to change our future.
35:01Thank you. That means a lot.
35:03Let's get out of here, huh?
35:04Put things away and get ready for a test run.
35:06Let's do it.
35:08It's a huge transformation.
35:10We basically took essentially scrap iron and built a full functional plant.
35:14Hopefully tomorrow we're going to be full of gold, but we'll see.
35:23Come here, Willow!
35:25In a moment of downtime,
35:27Freddie gets back to his ranching roots with dog Willow.
35:31You see those chickens?
35:32Come on, Willow!
35:33Get around those chickens!
35:34Hurt them up!
35:36I grew up on a ranch.
35:37We had cow dogs.
35:38That's a sheep dog with a desire to herd something.
35:41That's the instincts that those dogs have.
35:43I can't get those instincts out of her today.
35:46Hurt them up! Get around! Get around!
35:48It's not my day for a dog trainer.
35:51Well, I tried.
35:52Hey, Freddie. Hey, Juan.
35:53What do you think, Travis?
35:54You guys ready to run?
35:55Yeah, you bet.
35:56Well, let's run.
35:57Let's do it.
35:58Let's do it.
35:59At the Longbar mine, the Allens fire up their new wash plate for the second test run.
36:14Let's see if she shakes for us.
36:15Looking good, sunshine.
36:16Here's the first scoop.
36:17First bucket, Juan.
36:18Four-hour run?
36:19Yeah.
36:20It feels great to run this plant for the first time.
36:21Been sitting in the field for a couple of years.
36:22I never thought it would come together.
36:23The sluice is running good.
36:24The plant's running good.
36:25The water's good.
36:26Just, but the water's good.
36:30That's just right.
36:31Ekyo.
36:32We'll use it, mate.
36:33We've done it.
36:34I've done it all.
36:35It's all done.
36:36And I've done it.
36:37You know, it's all done.
36:38I've done it.
36:39And I've done it.
36:40I've done it.
36:41We've done it.
36:42You know, I've done it.
36:43Yeah.
36:44Okay.
36:45I've done it.
36:46I've done it.
36:47I've done it.
36:48I've done it.
36:49It's done it.
36:50The water is cleaning the material.
36:51The rocks are coming off clean.
36:55I don't think I've ever seen a wash plant run this good before.
37:04It's really washing good.
37:07It makes me more confident that we can get to our 25-ounce
37:10flow.
37:11It's like we're running about double the production.
37:16Overall, I'm pretty happy with it.
37:18You know what we did with this?
37:19We've resurrected a dinosaur.
37:20Yeah, something that was fit for the scrap pile.
37:23Now it's actually a running plant.
37:25And he owns it.
37:26Yeah.
37:27Hopefully, we see some gold in the box.
37:29What is that?
37:29Is that four hours now, Fred?
37:30Four hours right on the money.
37:32Last bucket!
37:43Let's go see the box.
37:44It's quite a bit of material, isn't it?
37:49Oh, look here in the carpet.
37:51See, that's why we double layer it, right?
37:54Yeah, it's all over the top there, all over here.
37:57Some more bigger pieces in here.
37:59Good.
38:00Well, no more, because the scale doesn't lie.
38:02You bet.
38:02Let's go weigh it up, Freddy.
38:03I'm curious.
38:04Yeah, me too.
38:05I'm worried, too.
38:06Yeah.
38:07Where's your gold at, guys?
38:09I got some gold right here for you to weigh.
38:10We did a .03 last time.
38:12You know, you got to be right around a quarter of an ounce
38:13a day, right, to be able to finish the season off.
38:15Absolutely.
38:16That's what we're shooting for.
38:17Well, let's weigh it up.
38:33The Allen's final hopes rest on a boosted recovery
38:36from Freddie and Juan's upcycled washplant
38:39and the new prospected pay from the long bar cut.
38:43cut. Well we're way past the 0.03. After doubling their last two-hour run time they
38:52need to see at least 0.1 ounces to save their season. Look at that number. 0.20. Wow. Just shy
39:01of a quarter ounce. Wow. Almost $500 in just a four-hour run. More than triple the gold
39:09recovery of their wash plant rental. That's pretty good. That's pretty excellent
39:14compared to what we've been doing. You know in reality is an eight-hour run you'd
39:18be closer to half an ounce you know and that's that's doable. That's $1,200 a
39:23day. Wow that's pretty good. Well you weren't gonna survive before. Absolutely.
39:27The way the plant's set up you're only running at half capacity. You know as you
39:31ramp things up you start making some money you can get a bigger pump and start
39:35you know using both sides of the sluice box. Hopefully get an ounce a day. Exactly.
39:38It's nice to have my own plant up and running. This is actually light at the
39:42end of the tunnel for me. This is the best news we've seen. Man do I appreciate it
39:47fellas. Juan and myself got to hit the road. Thank you Freddie. You're welcome. Thank you
39:52Juan. Hey no worries. Thank you Juan. Thank you Freddie.
39:58Here's our future. Right there. Miracle in the pan. Both Andrew and I are just ecstatic.
40:05It doesn't even feel real what Freddie and Juan have done for us. I never thought it
40:10could happen but it has happened. We'll make it here. We can survive. I want to
40:16say to Freddie and Juan thank you very much for coming down to our gold mine and
40:20saving the day. I can't be any happier. A miracle has happened for me. If it was easy
40:26everyone would do it but honestly I have a lot of hope here. Andrew is driven and he's
40:33made a decision. He wants to be a miner and he's going to continue with this. But now he
40:36has the right tools to be able to continue with his career.
40:46Here's an update from Long Bar. Since we've seen Freddie and Juan the updates have helped us tremendously.
40:52This old plant has really lots of good. It's got a great shape. The tailings are nice and clean.
40:59We're washing around 100 yards of shift. Doing anywhere from three quarters of an ounce to an ounce a day.
41:06We're so happy to be able to share it with my son and show him this is how we can claw away at our future. One scoop at a time.
41:13Now we just want to wash, wash, wash. We'll be here until the snow flies.
41:20Things just look that much better for us now and for Anders' future.
41:24We're able to pay the bills. Thanks again Freddie and Juan.
41:28Thanks for coming out.
41:29Thanks everyone.
Recommended
41:31
|
Up next
45:21
41:31
41:31
41:31
57:11
40:21
40:28
43:10