- 7/6/2025
Gold Rush Mine Rescue with Freddy & Juan Season 5 Episode 5
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00:00Last season we found an old-timers tunnel into the mountain mining an old river channel.
00:12It was really good gold. This year we expected fully get in that same channel,
00:21continue on, good gold. It's not there. Channel's not there. Just dried up overnight.
00:27We've scraped, we've sanctified. If we don't find gold this season, we're done.
00:33We've got issues with the plant that I don't know how to fix. Rocks plug it up. I can't do anything
00:41about it. I don't have savings. Everything that could have been savings has gone into this. We
00:49are staking our future on this. There isn't a fallback plan. This is it. We need Freddie. Go on.
00:56Freddie Dodge. I'd rather have gold in the bank than gold in the mountain. And Juan Ibarra.
01:03Not bad for built in the field. Want to make you rich. It turns your dream out here into a reality.
01:11In the past five years, the value of gold has doubled. There's a $3,000 nugget right there.
01:18But rookie miners find it more elusive than ever. If we don't recover more gold, then we could lose
01:26everything. But there is hope. Miracles, they do happen. To turn desperation into fortune.
01:34Freddie and Juan have one week. What you just did, this genius. To deliver a golden payday.
01:40They have a future and they know what they need to do.
01:58Juano.
01:59Hey, Fred. How you doing, buddy?
02:01Oh, doing all right. I'm just outside of Virginia City where we're going to meet. Where are you at,
02:05bud? I'm actually making a detour. I'm feeling a little nauseous, dizzy. Something's not right.
02:11Oh, no kidding, huh?
02:12Yeah, man. I gotta go get a shot.
02:14Well, I'll be thinking about you, buddy.
02:15Okay.
02:16Love you, buddy.
02:17Love you too, bud.
02:17Talk to you in a bit. Bye.
02:23One thing about Juan is he's one tough son of a gun. And for him not to make it, there's something haywire.
02:30But when we say we're coming, no matter what, we keep our promise.
02:38Freddie is en route to the Opie Mine, where a husband and wife team worked their 13-acre claim,
02:45a stone's throw from the legendary Alder Gulch, one of the most significant placer mining districts in the U.S.
02:52In 1863, this area produced Montana's largest gold strike of over a million ounces of gold.
03:02But when the easy pickings were mined out, prospectors tunneled into the hillside above in search of gold-rich ancient river channels.
03:11How's it going, guys?
03:23Hey, Freddie.
03:24Rob and Connie, I assume.
03:25Yeah.
03:25Good to see you.
03:26Oh, it's really good to see you.
03:27Good to see you.
03:28Good to see you.
03:31Well, hopefully, uh, hopefully we can help you out here.
03:35I know you were expecting Juan and myself, but Juan's not feeling well right now.
03:39I hope he gets feeling better.
03:40Yeah, hopefully.
03:41And he can, he can make it.
03:43So this your plant, huh?
03:44Yeah.
03:45Yeah, it's, uh, boy, I didn't know much when I got it.
03:49My plant does need help.
03:51I'm losing a fair amount of gold.
03:53Various places.
03:54I don't know how to solve it.
03:56We'll watch it running.
03:57Okay.
03:57So do you have any gold from here?
03:59Oh, yeah.
04:01This is kind of the normal gold.
04:03Okay.
04:04But we get quite a few pickers, too.
04:07Mm-hmm.
04:07And some bigger nuggets.
04:09It's pretty gold.
04:12Yeah, we think so.
04:13Yeah.
04:14It makes a nice wedding ring.
04:15Nice.
04:17How long have you been mining here?
04:19Been actually mining four years.
04:21Once we knew we were going to gold mine, everything was going to go towards that.
04:26Saving what we can, slowly getting what, a little equipment.
04:29Piece by piece.
04:30We could, yeah.
04:31On auction is.
04:32Working towards to where we could actually mine.
04:34Right.
04:36For the past 10 years, construction worker Rob has dreamt of being a miner.
04:42Most of my career was building log homes.
04:45But there is no pension.
04:502008, you know, the economy just crashed.
04:55My last job ended and nothing else.
04:59It got desperate pretty quick.
05:01Shortly after that, I saw the first Gold Rush show.
05:07And, man, that really spoke to me big time.
05:11Going to look for gold, taking charge of your own future, that was the direction.
05:17That's what I wanted to do, and that's what all my efforts were going to go towards.
05:22Everything we have is invested in this.
05:25I'm 70 years old now, and the mining is something that I can definitely see.
05:34I can do another 10 years, and Connie's with me on that.
05:39That is the dream, for sure.
05:44How much gold did you do last year?
05:45We did 15 ounces last year.
05:48We were in a channel, and we were following the old-timers' drift tunnel.
05:53They knew where the gold was, and so we followed it.
05:58The Opie's claim is dotted with signs of mining tunnels known as drifts.
06:05Old-timers dug into the hillside, following ancient rivers, chasing gold-rich pay deep underground.
06:12I think it's a little different this year.
06:17So far this season, we got two and a half ounces, I believe.
06:25It's really dismal.
06:28Yeah.
06:29Sounds like we need to look at your ground, too, huh?
06:32Boy, I'd appreciate it.
06:33What's your goal this year?
06:34Well, I need 25 ounces.
06:38That's our goal.
06:40With eight weeks before winter could shut them down, they need another 22 and a half ounces to hit their goal.
06:47That'll pay wages anyway, and pay your bills off.
06:51Yeah.
06:52That's how I approach this.
06:53I never was looking to get rich.
06:55I am still working over the winter in construction, because I have to.
07:00But my goal was, if I could replace my construction wage, that would be a retirement to us.
07:06Yeah.
07:06You know, a working retirement.
07:08Yeah.
07:08But I really need the help, because I don't know what else to try.
07:13Let's do a test run.
07:14Sounds good.
07:15Rob and Connie, if you can tell they love each other, you can tell that they're a team.
07:27Their dream is to stay gold mining and not have to go back to their other jobs.
07:32These guys need to get gold in their pockets, so for the time being, they're running what they've got.
07:39Really excited to see what Freddie comes up with.
07:43First bucket.
07:45Take, Army.
07:53Pay from the Opie's existing cut is loaded into a feed hopper, where material travels up a conveyor and into an 11-nozzle spray deck.
08:06From there, the pay funnels into a 13-foot-long trommel, where the gold-rich material is washed down into the sluices.
08:15We like to be very independent, but asking for help actually feels really good.
08:26You can see some of these rocks, right?
08:31They're still carrying quite a bit of dirt.
08:35Freddie inspects the tailings from the spray deck.
08:38So, you know, if there's gold in the ground, it's in this material, right?
08:43That tells me they're going to be losing gold.
08:45You can see, like, this rock that are even going through the trommel.
08:53Like, that material that's stuck to that rock may have gold in it.
08:58It's going to have some.
08:59We want this material right here that's on my fingers going down the sluice box, not out the tailings conveyor.
09:07Gold is being lost in both the fine and the coarse tailings.
09:12So, here's another problem.
09:16There's rocks getting stuck in there.
09:19Freddie identifies a pinch point in Rob and Connie's operation.
09:24You see Connie there?
09:27Have to do manual labor.
09:29We need to fix that situation for sure.
09:31I have to stand here and watch this, oil gets jammed up, and we'll have a big problem.
09:41Material sticks to that belt.
09:44You can see some of it on there.
09:47Fine material sticks to the feed conveyor belt.
09:51This material then spills onto the ground around the plant.
09:55So, if dirt can stick to it, gold can stick to it.
10:01I'm going to say there's at least 40 colors in the pan.
10:20This is something that will definitely have to be fixed in some fashion.
10:27Having Freddie here, this is an amazing opportunity.
10:31These guys have put this plant together without ever mining before.
10:36They've done a pretty good job.
10:37But it's still losing gold.
10:42Last bucket!
10:46After four hours, Freddie calls time on the test.
10:53Let's have a look at the sluice, guys.
10:54All righty.
10:55I don't see anything, guys, but that doesn't mean anything, right?
11:02Uh, yeah.
11:04There's only one way to find out, and that's do a cleanup, I guess, huh?
11:08Yeah, sounds good.
11:09Take care, guys.
11:11Take care.
11:11All right, see you in the morning.
11:12Bye.
11:12Looking forward to hear what Freddie says.
11:17I hate to say, you know, it's our last hope, but the reality of it is, it is.
11:24Good morning, guys.
11:39Good morning, Freddie.
11:40At the Opie Homestead in Montana...
11:42You got your gold ready?
11:44We got her.
11:45Nice.
11:46...with Juan out of action, Freddie weighs the results from the four-hour test.
11:50I got a scale here.
11:52You ready, guys?
11:53Yeah.
11:54We're ready.
11:54Let's weigh it up.
11:58To hit their season goal of 25 ounces, this result must deliver at least a quarter of an ounce.
12:070.17, so not even a quarter of an ounce.
12:14So, you know, that's about $360 worth of gold, so 90 bucks an hour.
12:21No, no.
12:23So that's not enough for the equipment you're running out there.
12:25No.
12:27But that's why I'm here, is to try to help you guys, right?
12:30Yeah, absolutely.
12:32But I just got to get some stuff through my head on what we need to do to your plant and, you know, looking at your ground.
12:39We'll help you.
12:39So, yep, I know you guys well.
12:41Okay.
12:41So I'll leave you guys to it, and I'll be back with you later and get some stuff figured out.
12:47Yeah.
12:48Well, it's, of course, not what I hoped.
12:51So much less than last year.
12:53We're way behind this year.
12:55It's been devastating.
12:57Yeah.
12:57It's got to improve.
12:59In order to make it, in order to continue, everything that we have planned for is in the balance, literally.
13:06We've just got to make it happen somehow or other.
13:08Rob told me he was on a channel that the old-timers mined.
13:17So he was getting pretty good gold out of what they didn't get.
13:21But then the channel ran out.
13:24One of the big things I'm going to have to do here as well as working on the plant and getting it tuned up is do some prospecting around and try to find that channel he was on before.
13:38I know they're losing gold, and I know I can remedy most of that.
13:45We look at that feeder.
13:47Right now, the opening where that material is dropping onto the conveyor, it's causing issues.
13:52What I want to do is open it up more to the maximum amount possible.
13:57The screen itself, I want it to get where it's washing the rocks better.
14:00I want to hang light rubber down off of those spray bars to slow that material down, going down the screen, and hold it there for a second.
14:09So those spray bars can really hit it hard.
14:12They're definitely losing gold on that conveyor.
14:14I did a pan off the ground on it, and got 40, 50 colors in the pan, a lot of them.
14:20So what I want to do on the end of that conveyor, I want to put a wiper there.
14:23It's spring-loaded that pushes up against the belt, so when it comes around, it knocks that dirt off, and it goes into the plant, not onto the ground.
14:30To reduce manual labor and increase production, Freddy will adapt the hopper and enlarge the feed hole to allow more pay onto the belt.
14:42Fine material sticks to the conveyor, which spills gold onto the ground.
14:49Freddy will install a spring-loaded wiper onto the end of the frame.
14:53This will scrub the belt and keep the fine pay in circulation.
14:57Coarse tailings leave the spray deck coated in fine material.
15:05Freddy will attach rubber strips to the spray bars to slow the rock flow, allowing them to be washed for longer.
15:15Finally, Freddy will add baffles to the inside of the trommel.
15:19The flicking motion will give each rock the chance to be cleaned before the pay is then sent down the sluices.
15:34How's it going, guys?
15:36Hey, Freddy.
15:37Hey, Freddy.
15:38We got a plan, maybe?
15:39Yeah, I got sort of a plan.
15:40See if you guys are up for it.
15:43I know from panning that you're losing gold on the feed conveyor.
15:46I took a pan out from under it where the dirt's falling off the belt.
15:50Oh, right.
15:50And I had 40, 50 colors.
15:52There was a lot of gold.
15:53You're losing gold on your other conveyors, too, on the rocks that are coming off that, because the rocks aren't really clean, right?
15:59Right.
15:59So what I want to do is put a wiper, a belt wiper, on your feed conveyor, so that gold's going down your sluice box and all over there.
16:05Great.
16:06On your screen, what I want to do is hang rubber off those spray bars, like fingers of rubber, like a solid piece across.
16:13Okay.
16:14That'll slow those rocks down so they get that longer shower.
16:17In your trommel, a lot of those rocks have material stuck to them as well.
16:21So if there's material stuck to them, there's going to be gold stuck to them.
16:24So if we put lifting bars in there, it's going to flip it over, flip it over, flip it over, right?
16:29I also want to eliminate your job, right?
16:32You sitting there with a bar or a hoe, having to clean that feeder out where the rocks jam up in there, right?
16:39Yeah.
16:39So what I want to do is open that up, and I figure it's going to be about $1,500 in material.
16:47And then I'd like to see two ounces of gold when you get it.
16:51You don't have to do it now for the labor.
16:55That just kind of covers expenses is what it does.
16:58Right.
16:58I'm hoping to at least double what you're doing now.
17:03I also want to find that channel that you know you had decent gold in.
17:07That sounds good.
17:08Yeah.
17:08It's going to be a really important thing, okay?
17:10Deal.
17:11Deal?
17:11Deal.
17:13Thank you, Freddie.
17:14Deal.
17:17Freddie's hopeful, and so that gives me hope.
17:20I'm looking forward to it, big time.
17:22Okay.
17:22Right now, Rob, we'll start on the trommel itself.
17:31Freddie's first job?
17:33To modify the Opie's trommel.
17:36We need to take that chute off so we can get inside of there and work on those baffles inside.
17:41You bet.
17:44Rob and Connie are helping me start on these fixes here.
17:47Since one's not here, just keep plugging along.
17:56What we're going to do here is put lifting bars in here.
17:58So this is going to roll those rocks where they're washing each other, because they're rolling on top, kind of like you use two hands to wash your hands, right?
18:06That's what we're going to do.
18:07We're going to make these rocks cleaner.
18:10Well, I need to remove this little hopper here so that we can get inside the end of the trommel.
18:15So what I'm going to do is tap these, and then we'll put bolts in them.
18:27Got her?
18:27There we go.
18:29Work's underway.
18:30That's the exciting part.
18:32We're on our way.
18:33I just need to turn it.
18:37Okay, there we go.
18:39It's too tight to get in this trommel to weld lifting bars in, so we're bolting them in from the outside.
18:45What's some self-tapper screws?
18:50So sometimes these self-tappers, they'll break off going through steel.
18:54So basically what I'm doing is putting some lubricant on there, and just cooking spray.
19:00But I do have this in the lunchbox.
19:01It just keeps them from snapping off.
19:06Fairly close.
19:14There we go.
19:15Lifting bars are in.
19:17I knew some of the problems we were having, but I didn't know how to fix it.
19:20Now I think we've got a really good direction.
19:25Working good.
19:26Bonnie, go ahead and shut it off.
19:31On to the next project, huh?
19:32Yep.
19:35What's up?
19:36Coming up.
19:37Wano.
19:38Holy cow, there's a sight for sore eyes.
19:43I was actually a little nervous that I was having a stroke.
19:45What we got to do, Connie?
20:00Yep.
20:00Is this rubber?
20:01On the Opie mine in Montana, Freddy's next job is to slow the rocks on the spray deck.
20:09We're going to cut some pieces of it to go behind your spray bars up there.
20:13Yeah, I'm looking for that.
20:13So if you want to cut this for me.
20:15The spray nozzles are not washing the rocks properly.
20:19Freddy will hang rubber dampening strips so the coarse tailings will be sprayed for longer.
20:24So we need a piece 28 long, and we're going to cut two pieces.
20:29And then we're going to split the bottom.
20:31So what this is going to do, it's going to slow those rocks down so they get washed better.
20:36Thank you, Connie.
20:37Thank you for the help.
20:39Over the last three years, actually, we've dealt with this problem.
20:43Rob has changed out the type of shaker, the power of the shaker, the angle of the shaker.
20:47So many attempts.
20:50He's come to a place now of asking for help, which I'm very proud of.
20:54Rob and I met a bit later in life.
21:00One of my very first dates, Rob took me gold mining.
21:04Gold mining initially was new to me, but it grew on me.
21:10We're going for it, and we hope to have success long into our years.
21:15We started out this season.
21:18All of a sudden, we're not finding the gold.
21:21Rob said he wanted to quit.
21:22And it just broke my heart.
21:30We have to make this work.
21:35You want to hold it up about right there?
21:37Right there on both sides.
21:39We can just do one side at a time.
21:41Perfect.
21:48I'm proud of this.
21:50This is going to clean the rocks a lot better.
21:58Cutting material here for that conveyor belt.
22:01With the dampeners complete, Freddy turns his attention to building a new wiper for the conveyor.
22:15Wano!
22:15Holy cow, there's a sight for sore eyes.
22:24How you doing, buddy?
22:25Good.
22:25How are you?
22:26Doing good.
22:26You feeling all right?
22:27Oh, doing better.
22:28Doing better?
22:29Yeah.
22:29I ended up having a really bad ear infection that went viral, and it caused Bell's Palsy.
22:35Yeah.
22:35Right now, I have no control of any of the muscles on the side of my face, on the right-hand side.
22:40When I called you the other day, I was actually a little nervous that I was having a stroke.
22:44What else do you think?
22:44I'd never heard of Bell's Palsy before.
22:47Me either.
22:47Well, thank God it wasn't a stroke.
22:49Yeah, brother.
22:50It's so good to see you.
22:51Hey, thank you.
22:51Really, it's bad Botox is what it is.
22:55I tried to save a few bucks.
22:56It wasn't worth it.
22:57I should have spent the money.
22:59I went to your guy.
23:00He messed me up.
23:03Well, let's park the truck, and you want to take me up there and show me around?
23:06Yeah.
23:06All right.
23:06Sounds good.
23:16That's a heck of a relief to know it wasn't a stroke.
23:19It's good to see Wano.
23:20That's for darn sure.
23:23It's a little difficult right now just because all the issues I have going on with my face,
23:26so it's hard to talk.
23:28But nonetheless, I'm happy to be here, happy to be able to help, and hopefully we can get
23:32this rescue done.
23:39There they are.
23:40Got a surprise for you.
23:42You do?
23:42Yeah.
23:43Juan.
23:44Juan's here.
23:45Oh, my goodness.
23:46How you doing, Rob?
23:47Oh, good to meet you.
23:48Nice to meet you.
23:48Hello, Connie.
23:49I'm so good to meet you.
23:50Well, I'm a little late, but...
23:51You're here.
23:52I really appreciate it.
23:52Yeah.
23:52That's good.
23:54Well, it was great meeting you guys.
23:55What do you want me to jump on?
23:56I can jump on whatever you want.
23:57Well, let's go up and measure for the wiper, and if you want to burn that out...
24:01All right.
24:02With time running out on the rescue, Juan takes on Freddy's plans for the conveyor belt
24:08wiper.
24:08We have angle iron here, right?
24:10Mm-hmm.
24:11For that way, you've got a pivot point, and then have the spring up top.
24:14Okay.
24:15Sounds like a plan.
24:16Let's do it.
24:22While Juan tackles the wiper, Freddy turns his attention to the ground.
24:27What we need to do here is find out if that channel that he was getting the good gold
24:32out of still exists.
24:33There's no guarantees on that.
24:35There's no guarantees in gold.
24:36Well, you can see that drift right there.
24:48In the Opie's cut, Freddy inspects a drift tunnel near the spot Rob lost his river channel.
24:54There's a reason the old-timers drifted there and stopped.
24:58Because they had gold out here, I'm guessing.
25:01Good enough gold to keep working it, keep working it, keep working it.
25:05And they're like, well, let's see how it does.
25:07Going deeper into the hill.
25:08And as they got deeper into the hill, they started running out of gold, most likely.
25:12So they stopped.
25:17Streams carry gold from veins in the hillside down the valley.
25:23Over thousands of years, they are buried underground by movements in the earth.
25:29Using hand tools and wooden carts, prospectors dig drift tunnels to find and chase these gold-rich
25:36channels.
25:38As the old-timers tunnel underground, they dig test drifts in the hope they'll find other
25:44ancient channel deposits.
25:46So I'm trying to piece this puzzle together to try to get a full picture out of it.
25:52Sure.
25:56This is no good.
26:00There's no rhyme or reason to it, right?
26:02It's giving us a picture, but a bad picture.
26:06It's saying, I haven't been reworked in nature's sluice box.
26:10The material in Rob's cut has not been concentrated by flowing water.
26:15And there's no sign of his missing river channel.
26:18I've seen a lot of deposits, right?
26:21But this one, this one's really tricky to read.
26:35So, putting this puzzle together.
26:37On the Opie claim, in Montana, Freddie is on the hunt for a lost channel of gold.
26:45When a stream cuts through, there's not just one channel, because that creek moves over
26:50time.
26:51Yeah.
26:52We know it's not right here, but that doesn't mean it's not 20 feet that way.
26:56Right.
26:56Another channel that they missed.
26:59Yeah.
27:00Let's have a look down here.
27:02With no sign of Rob's channel, Freddie turns his attention to a lower section of bedrock.
27:17See how this all smoothed off down the face?
27:20Oh, yeah.
27:20It tells me water and material is pushing rock, sand, everything down, right?
27:24Yeah.
27:26You know, this may be another channel.
27:29That would be huge.
27:32There's only one way to find out.
27:33Let's get in the excavator and start digging.
27:40Oh, I'd love to find that channel again.
27:43I'm hopeful here.
27:44We'll see.
27:51Pretty interesting, Rob.
27:53Yeah, I agree.
27:58That looks good.
28:02Those big boulders, Rob, are a really good sign.
28:06That looks really good.
28:07Yeah.
28:09Large boulders often collect on the bedrock of river channels.
28:14Acting like riffles in a sluice box, they trap gold in place.
28:18Oh, boy, that's exciting.
28:21Last year, when I was on that channel that had the really good gold in the bottom, that's the kind of stuff I was seeing.
28:29And I didn't see that this year up to this point.
28:32We found a channel.
28:38At least I think it's a channel.
28:40Yeah.
28:41But this excites me more than finding that old channel that they mined, because this is virgin ground.
28:47They missed this.
28:48Yeah.
28:48From that hole in the wall over there, they went right over the top of it, which is a good thing for you.
28:54Let's run this stuff, and we'll go from there.
29:01Okay.
29:03The discovery of an unbind river channel has the potential for a huge payday, and could get Rob and Connie back on the gold.
29:12I skipped right over it, because the bedrock is higher on both sides of it.
29:17So Freddie identifying is, yeah, that is a channel there.
29:20Yeah, this is really a good thing.
29:22It's going to be a simple wiper.
29:32At the cut trailer, one's wiper takes shape.
29:37These are the brackets that are going to mount onto the conveyor, and we'll just have a couple springs that pull up on it,
29:41and that way it'll actually put constant pressure on that belt.
29:44It can scrape all that material that has gold off, and that way we can sluice it.
29:52So these are the side arms for the wiper.
30:01They're going to pivot on a 5-8 pin.
30:04That way you can adjust it where you need it.
30:06If you need to pull it out, you can pull the pins out and remove it.
30:09What I did, I cut the rubber out.
30:16I made these holes slotted, so that way we can adjust it where we need to have it,
30:20and that way as it wears out, we can adjust it up a little bit and be able to make better contact with the belt.
30:24Let me show you what I'm thinking on here.
30:34New pay secured.
30:36Freddie and Rob turned their attention to the feed hopper.
30:40I'd cut the front out first, thinking we'd go up 4 inches at this angle here.
30:46Then I'd just cut the edge here with the grinder, quarter inch in, quarter inch in, and cut that out.
30:56Freddie's plan?
30:57To relieve the pinch point and prevent blockages.
31:02Okay, you got this.
31:04I do?
31:04Yeah.
31:05Okay.
31:05Well, that line didn't go too bad.
31:28Oh, look at that.
31:31Oh, I thought I was going to have to really work those corners.
31:35Oh, nice.
31:36Okay.
31:38That should solve my rock problem.
31:41What happened is I'd get a rock down here and another one would kind of just sit right on it back in there,
31:47and then they'd get jammed, and then they'd pin in really hard.
31:52Bad enough, we'd get a shutdown just to get them undone, because then material behind it would pack up, and...
31:56Big problem.
32:01Got her done, huh?
32:03Yeah.
32:03Well, it looks good, Juan.
32:04Simple.
32:05It'll work, though.
32:06Yeah.
32:06Let me start my welder up here and get my hood.
32:09Juan's conveyor wiper is ready to be welded in place.
32:14I'd weld it, but I can't see real well, so...
32:15Yeah.
32:16I understand, buddy.
32:21Having Juan show up, feeling not 100%, wow, that shows his heart.
32:28He puts everything into it regardless.
32:30He's totally professional and just a sweetheart.
32:33We'll get an idea roughly where we're at, huh?
32:35Right there is about where it should be.
32:37Just tack that right there.
32:38You want to give me your hood and I'll do it?
32:39Oh, I think I can get it on.
32:46Did I get it?
32:47Yeah, you got her.
32:48Okay.
32:49That looks good, Fred.
32:50Looks good.
32:51That's the last of the fixes.
32:52Yeah, you got her.
32:52Okay.
32:53Well, let's clean up our tools and head out, huh?
33:07Yeah.
33:07Tomorrow's a big day.
33:09Yep.
33:09That channel I found, that's pretty exciting.
33:11Sounds good.
33:17It's going to be hot.
33:18Thanks.
33:19You're welcome.
33:19In Montana, miners Rob and Connie share their camp comforts.
33:25When we first started coming up here, just in the very beginning, we would come up and
33:31we'd camp out in just a little puck tent, so to speak, on the ground.
33:36It was nice, but, you know, we're not young chickens anymore, so we took our living situation
33:41to the next level.
33:42Rob would get some materials on sale, or he would make them himself out of iron, or scraps
33:50of wood that he had left over, and then I had a kitchen all of a sudden.
33:54He really wanted to eat real food, I guess.
33:56If I was going to eat good, I better give her a good kitchen that she's going to like
34:00being.
34:00Yeah.
34:01She's frugal, I'm frugal, make what I can, and we just turned into a home away from home.
34:08And now it's just something we really look forward to.
34:11This is the life we want to live.
34:13We want to be out here camping and enjoying nature.
34:15Let's do a test run, huh?
34:26Let's do it.
34:26Yeah.
34:27On the Opie mine in Montana.
34:29Head on down, I'm going to start the water pump.
34:31The moment of truth for Rob and Connie has arrived.
34:36Having found a channel, I'm really, really excited.
34:39If all these fixes work out, it gives us the direction we were hoping for for the next
34:4610 years, but until I see it done, I won't know exactly where we're at.
34:51First bucket one.
34:53Yeah.
34:53See how it does.
34:56That channel I found.
34:58Yeah.
34:59Let's hope it's as good as I think it could be.
35:01Okay.
35:02Yeah.
35:02The Opie's are running pay from the newly discovered Virgin River channel.
35:07It's working perfect.
35:09That wiper's still working good, Vaughn.
35:15Yeah.
35:16One's wiper is scrubbing fine material off the conveyor belt and into the spray deck.
35:23It's getting a lot better washed.
35:25Yeah.
35:26See, they pile up, then the next one.
35:30Perfect.
35:31And the new dampers on the spray deck mean more material is being washed off the coarse tailings.
35:39Every one of these rocks before had a thin layer of dirt on them.
35:44Yeah, it looks pretty clean now.
35:45Yeah, have a look at that.
35:47That's real clean.
35:48Yeah.
35:50Freddie's new baffles in the Opie's trommel means more fine material is washed into the sluice box.
35:56Hey, Connie.
36:02Yeah?
36:03Are you feeding it faster than before?
36:05I'm starting a little cautious.
36:07Speed her up.
36:07Okay.
36:08Got it.
36:08It'll handle it.
36:09Okay.
36:10Right now, at the pace we're running the plant, it's over double what they were running before.
36:18Halfway through the test run, and the Opie crew are running nearly 20 yards an hour through
36:23their plant.
36:24We haven't had one walkage in the feeder.
36:27You had to get off and do anything?
36:29I haven't had to get off and do anything.
36:31It's like so smooth.
36:32Wow, that is amazing.
36:36I'm stoked.
36:37It's a tear-durker material.
36:40It's amazing.
36:42Nothing is getting jammed up at all.
36:46I'm proud of what we've done here.
36:49You know, seeing the amount of material going through this plant now is pretty exciting.
36:56Hey, Connie, last bucket!
37:02Oh, that was amazing!
37:08The plant ran really well, so let's keep our fingers crossed and go look in the sluice,
37:13huh?
37:17Have a look at this, guys.
37:20No way!
37:20How much is buried in there?
37:21No way!
37:22Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, look at that.
37:25Look at that nugget.
37:26There we go.
37:27We've never seen that before.
37:29Oh, look!
37:30There's another nugget.
37:31Little nugget in there?
37:32Oh, it's pretty!
37:33Good grief!
37:35I'm excited, guys.
37:36And I'm more excited than you are.
37:39Well, clean it up, guys.
37:40Yeah, we'll head out.
37:41We'll see you guys in the morning.
37:44This is amazing.
37:46This is so good.
37:48I'm kind of in shock.
37:50What does that mean?
37:52We'll find out.
37:53This is incredible.
37:54This is incredible.
38:01Let's see what it did.
38:11Well, hello.
38:12Ooh, that looks good.
38:13Ooh, that looks good.
38:15That's exciting.
38:16In order to hit their goal of 25 ounces in eight weeks,
38:20this test needs to produce at least a quarter of an ounce.
38:23Well, let's weigh it up, huh?
38:24Let's do it.
38:25We did 0.17 the first test.
38:34Well, we just went over your first weigh.
38:37There it is right there.
38:37The first test.
38:38I like how we just left it there to go.
38:39Holy moly.
38:39That's a ton left.
38:40Look at it.
38:40That's crazy.
38:42Half an ounce.
38:42That's half an ounce.
38:43Half an ounce right there.
38:44A little over half an ounce, yep.
38:45Let's put the rest in.
38:46Do it, do it.
38:47Three quarters of an ounce.
38:48Over three quarters of an ounce.
38:50Wow.
38:501.221.
38:53That's awesome.
38:55Yeah, that's pretty good.
38:56Yeah, proud of that.
38:58Over four times what they need to reach their goal.
39:02Ounces, not grains.
39:04Ounces.
39:05No, there's $2,900 worth of gold in that pan.
39:13Guys, I don't know.
39:15This is incredible.
39:16I never dreamed that was possible.
39:19It's been an absolute pleasure working with you guys.
39:22Straight back at you.
39:23Yeah.
39:24Go on.
39:25Good working with you.
39:27Hey, you're welcome.
39:28Thank you so much.
39:29Absolutely.
39:33I'm blown away.
39:34It's so far beyond what I hoped.
39:38You know, even when I was hoping really big, I'm so excited to get in there and start digging
39:44some more of this channel up.
39:45We did this.
39:46We dug it.
39:47It's on our ground.
39:48We processed it.
39:49It's real.
39:51It's amazing.
39:52It is truly our future.
39:54And a lot of dreams and a lot of hard work come to fruition.
40:03Thanks for not letting me quit.
40:06Without you, I would have.
40:07You realize that, right?
40:09I do.
40:11A 700% increase, that's more than I could have hoped for.
40:15That's more than I could have dreamed for.
40:17They had very little light at the end of the tunnel when I got here.
40:19Now they got a bright light at the end of the tunnel and they just got to keep following
40:24it upstream.
40:24And their future could be set now.
40:27I couldn't be happier.
40:37Hi, Freddie and Juan.
40:38Hey, guys.
40:39I want to give you an update on what's been happening since you left.
40:43The fixes have been working really well.
40:46All those fixes together have contributed to gold in this loose box, which we actually can
40:53see now.
40:54I don't believe this.
40:57Look at those nuggets in this nose, Matt.
41:03It is beyond what we expected and what we hope for.
41:07Freddie and Juan, we really want to thank you.
41:09Because of the tools you guys have given us to succeed, we are totally confident going forward
41:15and we're excited.
41:16We're going to take the step and we're going to become full-time miners.
41:21Construction will be something that I can leave behind and we are so grateful for that.
41:28Thank you again, guys.
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