- 7/6/2025
Gold Rush Mine Rescue with Freddy & Juan Season 5 Episode 4
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00:00Oh, we have a tremendous case of gold fever. It's bad.
00:18Gold is at the highest price it's ever been. And so it's an
00:24absolutely real reason to be out here. Gold fever is a real
00:28thing. Hold on, Christine, something's going on with the water.
00:34Okay, coffee. Freddie, Wano, we really, really could use your help.
00:40With every fix that we come up with, it creates three more problems.
00:46We should have left the plant the way it was. Each season in passing,
00:52it's getting worse. If we can't increase our gold recovery,
00:58make this work this year, then I think we're done.
01:02This will be it. This will be it.
01:06Freddie Dodge. I'd rather have gold in the bank than gold in the
01:12mountain. And Juan Ibarra. Not bad for built in the field.
01:16Want to make you rich. It turns your dream out here into a reality.
01:22In the past five years, the value of gold has doubled.
01:26There's a $3,000 nugget right there.
01:28But rookie miners find it more elusive than ever.
01:34If we don't recover more gold, then we could lose everything.
01:38But there is hope.
01:40Miracles, they do happen.
01:42To turn desperation into fortune.
01:45Freddie and Juan have one week.
01:47What you just did, this genius.
01:49To deliver a golden payday.
01:51They have a future and they know what they need to do.
02:03I'd take a fudge nut parfait.
02:05All right.
02:07Let me do a brownie delight.
02:11Good call on the ice cream, Freddie.
02:13Melting quick, Juan.
02:15Look at that view, Freddie.
02:17That's pretty, huh, Juan?
02:19Yeah.
02:20We got to be really close to the Grand Canyon from here, huh, Fred?
02:23The old timers hit this, so it was definitely gold here.
02:26Do you know when the first prospectors got in here,
02:29the old old timers?
02:30It was 1880s.
02:31That's cool.
02:32Well, should we go see the gals?
02:34Let's do it.
02:38Freddie and Juan are en route to the Chicks with Picks Claims,
02:42owned by Jamie Deanna and Christine Cernick,
02:46who in the last two years have spent thousands of dollars
02:49on a new wash plant to turn their hobby mind
02:52into a professional operation.
02:59The hostile desert conditions and lack of water
03:02slowed down the first wave of Stampeders in the 1880s,
03:06but those who were hardy enough recovered over 13,000 ounces of gold.
03:11Worth nearly $30 million in today's money.
03:16Now, with gold at a staggering $2,300 an ounce,
03:21Freddie and Juan have one week to decode this operation
03:25and turn it around.
03:31Well, hello.
03:32Hello.
03:33Hi, ladies.
03:34Welcome, gentlemen.
03:35How you doing?
03:36Hi there.
03:37Good. How are you doing?
03:38Hi, Christine.
03:39Well, let me ask you ladies a question.
03:42What got you into gold mining?
03:43Basically, since COVID.
03:44COVID started everything.
03:46Yeah.
03:47I am a hairdresser for about 20 years.
03:50When COVID hit with the, you know, mandated shutdowns,
03:54we were part of it.
03:56Jamie's business shut down.
03:58Mine was doing nothing, you know?
04:00And we said we need to get outside.
04:03Christine's father, he's had this property for over 30 years.
04:09He started talking about gold.
04:11He was considering selling it.
04:14And we said, wait a minute.
04:16And when we really found out how much gold is out here,
04:21we decided that we wanted to purchase it all.
04:24The idea of a treasure hunt, to me, was like, oh, yes.
04:29Let's do this.
04:34We knew right there we had gold fever.
04:38This is the place we want to be.
04:40We want to mine gold.
04:41So we said, we're going to give it a go.
04:43We both have enough experience in business and production
04:47and figuring things out.
04:49We're, we're girl MacGyvers.
04:51With gold fever set in,
04:53they invested in a professional setup.
05:00But then, life threw them another challenge.
05:03Two years ago, I got diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis
05:06and sometimes cripples me to the point
05:09where I can't get out of bed in the morning.
05:11Rheumatoid arthritis, or RA,
05:14is a degenerative autoimmune disease
05:16that attacks the joints.
05:18Christine tries to muscle through
05:21and a lot of times people don't even realize
05:23she is as sick as she is, you know.
05:30You okay?
05:31Got some water.
05:35It's just really sad to watch her suffer.
05:38To see Freddie and Juan here,
05:41it feels like the Calvary is here.
05:43There's hope that we could turn this around
05:46because I can't do it on my own.
05:49I just, I can't.
05:54Unfortunately, I take a medicine twice a month
05:56that is thousands of dollars.
05:58And we really need help to find more gold
06:00to get that stuff taken care of.
06:01Because, you know, it's stressful.
06:03Oh, yeah.
06:04Absolutely.
06:05I can see that.
06:06It makes it very hard for her physically.
06:08So, to help alleviate some of that manual labor,
06:12that would be fantastic.
06:14Understood.
06:15Now, how long have you guys been running this year so far?
06:17We've been out here, what, like eight weeks?
06:20Yeah.
06:21Between eight to ten weeks,
06:22so a little two and a half months.
06:24So, what kind of money do you have invested into this?
06:27It's about $150,000.
06:29Okay.
06:33This is the type of gold that we have here.
06:35Well, that's some pretty gold.
06:36Yeah.
06:37But mainly fines, huh?
06:38Yes.
06:39Our first season was pretty decent,
06:41especially being the first season.
06:43How many ounces did you do?
06:44We did ten ounces.
06:45Okay.
06:46It's not bad.
06:47The second season wasn't as good.
06:50We did about five ounces.
06:52And this year, we've barely done over an ounce.
06:57Really?
06:58What's your goal for this year?
07:00We would love to be at 50 ounces this year.
07:02This is the goal that we want to be able to run at.
07:05And that's before summer runs you out?
07:07That's what we're shooting for.
07:08So, you've got about 50 days left then?
07:09Yep.
07:10Yes.
07:11Yes, absolutely.
07:12The Arizona season runs from October through to June,
07:16as monsoons and extreme heat
07:19make summer mining impossible.
07:21It takes a special breed of person
07:23to be out here in the desert.
07:24Christine and Jamie, they've worked their butts off
07:27to do what they've done here
07:28in the time they've done it.
07:30But at the same time,
07:32these ladies did ten ounces the first year,
07:34and now they've got a target goal of 50 ounces.
07:37So, whether that can be done or not, I don't know.
07:40So, tell us about the plant.
07:42All right.
07:43Right this way.
07:44That's the funky gold machina.
07:49From Canada.
07:50Jamie and Christine have invested $30,000 in a water run trommel,
07:56adding their own bush fixes to try and increase efficiency.
08:00So, the mining standard out in this area is typically dry washing
08:07because of the lack of water and having to have it trucked in.
08:12But we have found that with the type of pay dirt that we have,
08:16it really is more beneficial to use water as opposed to dry washing.
08:22That's a good thing if you know what your ground is,
08:24that determines what you need for a wash plant, right?
08:26Right.
08:27So, you guys made a good decision there.
08:29Okay, good. Thank you for that.
08:31Well, you ready to do a test run, ladies?
08:33Let's do it.
08:38Fire it up.
08:50Here we go.
08:52First bucket going in.
08:55Four-hour run, right?
08:56Yeah.
08:57Okay.
08:59P-dirt in Jamie and Christine's wash plant
09:02is fed through a four-foot hopper into a double trommel
09:06called the reverse helix.
09:09Rocks are washed in the inner drum, known as a scrubber,
09:13and discarded from the back,
09:15while finer pay dirt drops into the outer drum.
09:18Here, corkscrew riffles push heavy gold-bearing material back into the sluices.
09:25To conserve water, the entire system is on a closed circuit,
09:30with wastewater returning to the pond to be pumped back to the plant.
09:35That helix trommel, if you look, all that material is bouncing right past the spray bar.
09:39Yeah.
09:40A lot of material that should be cleaned and being sluiced,
09:44and it's coming right out of the end of that trommel.
09:46That's not much of a spray bar.
09:51I just want to look at it and see how much of the fines we're missing.
09:54Uh-oh.
09:55Wano's over there checking our tailings.
09:58See him panning.
10:00So, look at all those fines right there.
10:03Almost every bit of that should have been sluiced.
10:05So, I'm going to pan that real quick and see if there's any color in it.
10:08If the plant isn't washing this gold-rich dirt off the rocks and into the sluice box,
10:14Christine and Jamie are losing gold.
10:17One sizable piece.
10:19So, you know, that doesn't seem like a whole lot, but over a full day running,
10:22you know, that could be 20, 30 pieces.
10:23So, it adds up quick.
10:29Oh, I'm sure that they're looking at the lack of water flow to keep everything running.
10:36The problem is they've got a three-inch pump, three-inch line,
10:40and it's going into a two-inch square tube to feed everything.
10:44They're restricting it right there at the beginning.
10:46Yeah.
10:47Jamie and Christine have fitted a narrow pipe to their trommel as a bush fix.
10:52So, it uses less water.
10:54Jamie's up there having with a hole all the time.
10:57And then we've got the material coming down here.
11:00It's manual labor to get it down.
11:02But by using less water, they need to rely on friend Greg to help keep the plant running.
11:09That's a lot of hard work.
11:11But, yeah, these girls, I love them.
11:15Well, when you have a plant like this, you should be able to run it with just one person.
11:21So, it's a very labor-intensive plant.
11:28There it is.
11:29Last bucket.
11:30Yep.
11:31Hey, Christine.
11:32Last bucket.
11:33Okay.
11:34Well, it is what it is.
11:35We'll see.
11:36I'm going to shut the trommel off.
11:37You go ahead and shut the water.
11:39Ladies, if you want to get it cleaned up.
11:53Sounds good.
11:54Sounds good.
11:56I saw a lot of head nodding that, you know, like, I don't know about this.
12:03Not sure about this.
12:04Sure.
12:05A lot of eye contact between the two of them.
12:08It's a little unsettling because it's not an eye contact like, way to go.
12:13Hey, yeah.
12:14You're killing it.
12:15We're just not the give up kind of people.
12:18You know, we want to push forward and make people see that this industry can be handled
12:24by anybody.
12:28Well, curious to see how much gold's in it, Juan.
12:43Yeah.
12:44In northern Arizona...
12:45Hi, ladies.
12:46Hi.
12:47Female miners Jamie and Christine have the gold ready to weigh from their first test run.
12:53Weigh it up, huh, Juan?
12:55Quick question.
12:56What's that scale about?
12:57My dad, he gave this to us.
13:00He said, I want you to use the scale to weigh your first hundred ounces.
13:04That's cool.
13:05Yeah.
13:06Yeah.
13:07Christine's dad, Bill, began hobby dry washing on the claim in the 90s.
13:11When we told my dad that we were interested in being out here, as soon as he saw the operation,
13:17it warmed my heart that he could believe in us that we would be able to do this.
13:22My dad passed away about five months ago.
13:26We just want to continue this legacy to be in the family for years to come.
13:33It's near and dear to me.
13:35It really is.
13:36That's a little balance.
13:37Yeah.
13:38Yes.
13:39Well, moment of truth, guys.
13:41All right.
13:42Here we go.
13:43Moment of truth.
13:44To hit their season goal of 50 ounces and cover mining and medical expenses, this weigh needs
13:50to deliver half an ounce of gold from the four-hour test.
13:53Well, we're a little over a tenth of an ounce.
13:570.29, 0.30.
14:000.31.
14:01A third?
14:02Yep.
14:03Almost a third of an ounce.
14:04Yeah.
14:05Getting a third of an ounce in four hours, it's decent, but it's not where you need to be.
14:18For you guys to hit your goal, you're going to have to just about double what you got there.
14:22Yes.
14:23Yes.
14:24Juan and myself will put our heads together and try to figure out some ways to make your
14:28plant more efficient.
14:29We would really appreciate that.
14:31Here's your golden.
14:32Thank you so much.
14:33We'll see you guys soon.
14:34All right.
14:35Thank you, guys.
14:36All right.
14:37You can only go for so long investing more money, more time, more labor, you know, not paying
14:48the bills.
14:49We really, really need to turn this thing around.
14:53They're a pleasure to work with.
14:55They both work really hard.
14:57They're passionate about what they're doing.
14:59But that plant is a bottleneck attached to another bottleneck attached to another bottleneck.
15:06The moment they fired it up, I'm like, they're dead in the water because they don't have enough
15:10water.
15:11So that's one of our main goals.
15:12There's a laundry list of things we can do there, Freddie, but I think we need to focus
15:15on what's going to give them the biggest bang for the buck.
15:17Yep.
15:18No, I agree.
15:19So let's focus on water system, hopper, sluice box.
15:24Raise the hopper, fix the water, get them manifolds in there so they can get the proper
15:29water into the plant.
15:30All right.
15:31Well, I like that.
15:32Let's do it.
15:33We got our work cut out for us, that's for sure.
15:36To reduce the pay dirt buildup at the front end of the trommel, Freddie and Juan will modify
15:42the four foot long hopper with adjustable legs as well as adding an additional spray bar so
15:49the pay can self feed into the trommel.
15:53Christine and Jamie have inadvertently starved the plant of water.
15:58Freddie will increase the supply by building a distribution box known as a manifold.
16:05This will produce pressurized water for the new spray bar in the hopper and feed a spraying
16:12cross piece in the inner drum of the trommel.
16:16Finally, Juan will replace Jamie and Christine's makeshift sluice, upgrading to a custom built
16:23one with carpet and riffles to improve gold recovery.
16:27I'm really hoping that that 50 ounce is not a pipe dream.
16:31That's a huge hill to climb.
16:32Yeah, I would agree with you, Juan.
16:52Hey, ladies.
16:53How are we doing?
16:54Good.
16:55So we kind of sat down and kind of figured up a game plan for you.
16:59Okay.
17:00What we're looking at is you don't have enough water to run the sluices that you have.
17:05Okay.
17:06And without that, your riffles are packing up, which doesn't allow the gold to find a home
17:11for itself, right?
17:12Absolutely.
17:13So we're going to work on the water system.
17:15We can see it's been messed with.
17:17Goes from a three inch lay flat to a two inch square.
17:20So you're restricting it right there, right off the get go.
17:22Yes.
17:23That's what Freddie wants to do.
17:24He wants to go in there and actually build you a manifold where you have valves to be
17:26able to turn on and off and adjust the flow to your sprayers.
17:28Get you some more water.
17:29Yeah.
17:30Oh, wow.
17:31Okay.
17:32And we're going to build you a new spray bar for the top of your hopper to eliminate,
17:34you know, you from being up there raking all day long.
17:37On top of that, we want to focus on your recovery as well.
17:40You know, the sluice box, it's basically a high banker box.
17:42That is what it is, a hobby box.
17:44So we can build you a new sluice.
17:46So we can actually get you closer to that 50 ounce skull that you need.
17:49Okay.
17:50That sounds amazing.
17:51But one of our big goals here is we need to find a new role for you, Christine, on this
17:56mine that does not involve a ton of manual labor.
18:00Okay.
18:01Which is why I'm going to take you prospecting and see what we can find for better ground.
18:07Wow.
18:08That's great.
18:09So between all of that, we kind of sat down and figured about $2,000 in material that we're
18:13going to have to get.
18:14Right.
18:15If we get you your double, then you pay just material.
18:18We're not charging you any labor, just strictly material.
18:21If we don't get you double, no charge.
18:24Even for the material.
18:25Yeah.
18:26Wow.
18:27We know you guys are in a tough spot here.
18:28With the medication that you need, it's a big financial strain on you guys.
18:32So we're happy to do it.
18:34Wow.
18:35That's great.
18:36Wow.
18:37That sounds wonderful.
18:38Yes.
18:39I could throw in a haircut.
18:40I don't really need one.
18:41I'd definitely throw in a haircut.
18:42I got a little left.
18:44Well, if you ladies are good with it, we're good with it.
18:46We'll get to work.
18:47All right, ladies.
18:48Let's start.
18:49All right.
18:52I had myself emotionally prepared for them to say, go back to cutting hair.
18:57Just make your life easy.
19:00And, you know, and so for it to be quite the opposite is, yeah, game changer.
19:06Yeah.
19:07Yeah.
19:08Yeah.
19:09Yeah.
19:10Yeah.
19:11Yeah.
19:12Yeah.
19:13Yeah.
19:14Yeah.
19:15While Juan preps the steel for the new sluice box.
19:18Perfect.
19:19Freddie's first job is to get more water into the plant.
19:25One of the biggest issues Juan and myself seeing when they were running is water issues.
19:31They don't have enough water.
19:32The problem is we've got a bottleneck right here.
19:35We've got a three-inch hose going into a piece of two-inch square tube.
19:40So it's just choking it.
19:42We're going to try to straighten that out.
19:44This square tube here is going to be our new manifold.
19:49We'll have this welded on the end of the square tube.
19:52We're going to come in with the water here.
19:54I'm going to cut and weld fittings on top of it here.
20:01Freddie's manifold has a large three-inch inlet to increase water pressure.
20:07A number of outlets then branch from the central tube to evenly distribute water around the plant.
20:14It's a system that should increase water volume by over 30% and get more yards of pay dirt through the plant.
20:25So just give me a hand mounting it here.
20:28Okay.
20:29Absolutely.
20:30Getting it tacked on.
20:37Hopefully, these fixes Juan and myself are doing are going to eliminate a bunch of your labor.
20:42Especially for Christine.
20:43Yeah.
20:44It's greatly appreciated and greatly needed.
20:47Thank you, lady.
20:50These ladies need to be able to run this plant without as much physical labor as they're doing, especially Christine.
20:56So a big part of this fix is going to be finding her a role where she's not hurting herself on a daily basis,
21:03and they don't have to bring extra help in.
21:05So that's going to be a tough one, but I think it can be done.
21:09Morning.
21:10On the chicks with picks mine.
21:11And with just 72 hours left on the build.
21:12Morning on the chicks with picks mine.
21:13And with just 72 hours left on the build.
21:14Christine struggles with her condition.
21:19I think we're just to a point of where, you know, you just can't.
21:20Right.
21:21Push your body like that.
21:22I think it's a.
21:23I think we're just to a point of where, you know, you just can't.
21:24Right.
21:25Push your body like that.
21:26I think it's a.
21:27A great opportunity with Freddie and Juan being here to die.
21:28I think we're just to a point of where, you know, you just can't.
21:29Right.
21:30The prospecting.
21:31The prospecting.
21:32Right.
21:33The prospecting.
21:34Right.
21:35And I can spearhead the more intense physical side of it.
21:38I can be the more physical side of it.
21:39I can be the more professional.
21:40And I think we're just to a point where the care of.
21:41You know, I think we're just to a point where, you know, we're just.
21:42I think we're just to a point of where, you know, you just can't.
21:46Right.
21:47Push your body like that.
21:49Yeah.
21:50I think it's a great opportunity with Freddie and Juan being here to dive into more of the.
21:57Prospecting.
21:58Prospecting.
21:59Right.
22:00And I can spearhead the more intense physical side of it.
22:04I can be the Watson to Detective Dodge.
22:10Well, cheers to that.
22:11I don't know if he's going to buy it, but I say go for it.
22:17Time to get to work.
22:20Hey, well, let's go get it.
22:22All right.
22:24I feel sad that I cannot do what I used to be able to do,
22:27but I really don't like to dwell on it.
22:31I'm about getting up, being as positive as I can.
22:34So with prospecting and research,
22:37there are so many things that I can do
22:39in the operation for our team.
22:49So what I'm doing here is I'm getting the sides
22:51of the new sluice box tacked in place.
22:54One's new sluice box will replace the old clogging sluice
22:58with an expanded steel riffle system
23:00to suck down heavy gold into the mats.
23:04Hey, Jamie, you want to give me a hand?
23:07Yeah, absolutely.
23:08I'd love to.
23:10Put this on first, and then you can put the gloves on.
23:13Okay.
23:15Wow, look at that.
23:18You know, just by wearing that shirt
23:19makes you 20% a better welder.
23:21I'm in.
23:26With Christine and her situation, you know,
23:28you're doing a lot more of it yourself.
23:29Yes.
23:30You know, one thing Freddie and I always say,
23:31if you don't have a welder, fabricator,
23:32and a mechanic on site, you don't have a mine site.
23:35I would agree.
23:37You're going to strike it like it's a match, right?
23:39Real slow.
23:40I'll pull back, get a little puddle,
23:42then I'll push back into the puddle,
23:43come back, get a little puddle going.
23:44Okay.
23:45So you're just stacking.
23:46What you're doing is what you're stacking.
23:47Okay.
23:51Like that?
23:52Yep.
23:54Get a little closer, get a little closer,
23:56get it closer.
23:57There you go.
23:58Okay, pull back, pull back, pull back,
23:59stop.
24:00So look at it right now,
24:01you see how hot that metal is?
24:03Oh, yeah, yeah, okay.
24:03So you're long arcing it.
24:05Okay.
24:05The further you get away,
24:06the further that arc has to jump,
24:08and it'll actually start dissipating that heat
24:10amongst, you know, both pieces of steel,
24:12and it actually gets hotter.
24:13Okay, I see what you're saying.
24:14So you need to constantly keep your rod
24:17about that distance right there.
24:20Right, okay, I gotcha.
24:28Don't worry, after we're done with this,
24:29you can teach me how to give a haircut.
24:31All right, I'm in.
24:34A little slower.
24:37Perfect.
24:39That was good, that was all you.
24:40That looks good.
24:41You're a great coach.
24:44Thank you so much.
24:46With everything that has happened with Christine,
24:50I am willing to step up and give 1,000%
24:54and make this a successful operation.
24:57Let's walk down here.
25:15On the other side of the claim.
25:18This is actually the most important thing.
25:20You can have the best wash plant in the world,
25:22but if you don't have the gold in the ground
25:25or if you're digging in the wrong spot,
25:27you know, you ain't gonna make it.
25:29Right.
25:30Freddie teaches Christine
25:32her new prospecting role on the mine.
25:35Just really valuable for me to go out with Freddie
25:37and have him teach me these things directly
25:40so I can, you know,
25:42be a bigger part of that part of our operation.
25:45So that building up there is the old part of King Tut.
25:51Okay.
25:53The King Tut mine sits alongside a string of hard rock claims
25:57and was discovered in the 1930s by female ranch owner,
26:03Ollie Duncan.
26:04The mine was soon bringing in hundreds of ounces of gold a week.
26:08You're right, kind of in the outwash of these mines.
26:12Gravity works.
26:14So when mountains erode,
26:15gold and gravel and rocks,
26:17they all go downhill.
26:18Okay.
26:19So that's the source for all the gold in these gullies.
26:21Oh, yeah, I see.
26:23Let's put our detective hats on here.
26:25If Christine and Freddie can find the stream beds
26:28or washes that run from the hard rock mines,
26:31they should find the gold.
26:33This drainage here,
26:35this drainage here,
26:37about one, two, three total drainages.
26:41We got these, you know,
26:43these streams coming together up top.
26:44We've got a stream going into that side.
26:46Right.
26:47Right.
26:47Another one.
26:48These two washes.
26:49And then these two come together right here.
26:52Right.
26:52So we got double the amount of reworked material here.
26:55We're talking nature's sluice box.
26:57So in theory,
27:00this should be the best gold right here under my feet.
27:03That's pretty amazing.
27:07But to get a true test on the ground,
27:09they call in the cavalry.
27:14That'll work.
27:15Get over a little bit.
27:20It'll give us an overall look
27:22of the material from the top down to the bottom.
27:26Sorry, you guys.
27:34You get dusted out.
27:45So if you dig into tailings, what is it?
27:47It's soft, right?
27:48Right.
27:49Everything's haphazard in the tailings.
27:51You can see that bottom layer?
27:53Yes, I can.
27:54See the course of rocks in it down there?
27:57Yes.
27:57You can see how hard that is?
27:58Uh-huh.
27:59Right?
28:00That means it's virgin.
28:01Right.
28:01That should be your best gold.
28:04Virgin means never before mined ground.
28:08A miner's holy grail.
28:11Well, let's see what kind of gold, if any, lives in this, huh?
28:16It's going to be a deciding factor for our future.
28:18Come on, ladies, show up.
28:22Moment of truth, huh?
28:24Right.
28:30Look at that, guys.
28:32Holy cow.
28:33So we've got, you know, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven.
28:49The verdict is delivered on Freddie's newly prospected ground, just 200 yards from Christine
28:55and Jamie's current cut.
28:58There's 21 colors in the pan.
29:01Yeah, look at that.
29:02Ha-ha.
29:03We know there's good color here.
29:05There's gold here for sure.
29:06Finally, somebody has, I guess, verified that we are seeing what we're seeing.
29:18We're not making this up.
29:19I'm not out of my mind.
29:21It wasn't too many years in the salon sniffing fumes.
29:25You're not crazy, that's for sure.
29:27I appreciate that.
29:29Well, let me rephrase.
29:30You're not bat-ing crazy.
29:32Just a little crazy.
29:32Just crazy enough to still be fun.
29:34Ha-ha.
29:36Well, it's pretty exciting finding some good color fairly close to their plant.
29:40It's farther than they're digging now, but it's manageable, right?
29:46Let's dig some of this up and run it through the plant for the second test.
29:49All right.
29:50Sounds good.
29:52For him to teach us how to identify the virgin ground, that was all so valuable, really.
29:57I mean, we're going to look at prospecting way differently into the future.
30:01Hold up.
30:17Looking good, my friend.
30:19Nice looking sluice box, Juan.
30:21Thanks, ready?
30:21With just 48 hours left on the build, Juan's new sluice box is ready to be fixed to the plant.
30:32Right now, we've got a lot of stuff to get done and not a lot of time left to do it in.
30:36All we do now is just keep plugging away.
30:40Oh, you got it, Jamie?
30:41How are we looking there?
30:42Perfect.
30:43And with it, another master class from Professor Dodge.
30:48We're going to have just this indoor-outdoor carpet under these light ripples.
30:51Okay.
30:52It works better than the miner's moss.
30:55Artificial turf is followed by expanded metal, which creates a vortex in water that pulls down the heavy gold.
31:03So we'll put our middle wedges in first.
31:05Okay.
31:06We want those ripples tight into that carpet.
31:12If not, that water will get under those ripples, then it can help carry gold right out of the box.
31:16Okay.
31:17Another good thing about wood, when the wood gets wet, it even makes it tighter.
31:21Okay.
31:21It's like hydraulics in the wood.
31:23Natural hydraulics, right?
31:27This sluice box is ready to roll.
31:29This really is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work with Freddy and Juan, building the sluices.
31:37It's something that, you know, you just can't put a price tag on it.
31:41We're running out of time, so we've got to just do whatever is right, but do it quick.
31:45As quick as we can now.
31:46Playtime is over, Fred.
31:48It's gotten real.
31:49We're going to bolt the spray bar down on top of this, hook a new water system up to it,
31:59and get a heck of a lot more water on those rocks.
32:02Get the gold in the sluice box, not in the tailings pile.
32:05Eye bolt!
32:07As Freddy starts on the spray bars...
32:09It's all hands on deck now.
32:13...Juan gets to work on making the 400-pound hopper adjustable.
32:17Let me put this pin in.
32:19...and installs it with mine helper, Greg.
32:22We made a bunch of holes in the legs, so that way when we get it adjusted to where we want it,
32:26we can pin it, and then we're ready to go.
32:30To prevent pay dirt clogging at the top and speed up the plant,
32:35Juan raises the angle of the hopper by modifying a set of adjustable trailer jacks.
32:43We got this trailer jack you're able to crank it here.
32:46Get the pressure off these pins.
32:48You can see right there.
32:49Then what I can do is pull the pins out, crank it to where I want it,
32:52get the pitch that I need on the hopper, repin it.
32:56You got an adjustable hopper there.
32:58Trailer jacks, how simple.
33:00Working his magic one more time.
33:04Let's hook this hose up.
33:08There we go.
33:09Oh, perfect.
33:11Too much.
33:11I like it.
33:12All right.
33:13You like it?
33:13I do.
33:14Oh, their ideas are coming to shape, and things are coming together.
33:20Wow, it's just so amazing to see the differences so far.
33:24Well, ladies, water's hooked up, piping going to everything,
33:32so I guess tomorrow morning we do a four-hour test run, huh?
33:38Yep.
33:38Sounds good.
33:39See you in the morning.
33:40All right.
33:54Well, the proof's going to be in the pudding, Freddy.
33:56You know, for this test run, we're going to have to be at least half an ounce or better.
33:59For them to meet their goal of an ounce a day.
34:01Yeah.
34:02I guess time will tell.
34:03Let's run a plant.
34:04Let's do it.
34:10We're ready.
34:16Yep, we're ready.
34:17Let's do this, guys.
34:18Let's make it happen.
34:24Let it rip.
34:26It's all come to a head, and this is the moment of truth.
34:30I'm nervous.
34:30I'm legitimately nervous.
34:34First bucket.
34:35First bucket, Freddy.
34:36Let's see if this machine is going to pump out some gold.
34:46This is the first female duel we've ever had, so I want to cut them out a little sign for
34:50their plant.
34:50The name of the mine is Chicks with Picks, so I'm doing two picks, representing the two
34:54chicks.
34:55I got all the letters cut out, and I got the picks cut out, so now we're just going to
34:58cut the frame out.
35:03Hello, ladies.
35:03Hi, guys.
35:04Freddy and I kind of had an idea.
35:06That is fantastic.
35:08Oh, my gosh.
35:09That is so cool.
35:10Here we go.
35:12Now it's official.
35:13Yeah.
35:13It's official.
35:25Perfect.
35:26All right.
35:26From the edge of the Grand Canyon, it's do-or-die for female miners, Christine and Jamie.
35:37The hopper's doing great, Fred.
35:39That spray bar's doing really good.
35:40And the pitch now, you know, it's pretty much able to feed on its own.
35:44Yeah, the spray bar system's working great.
35:48Instead of needing to manually rake down the pay dirt, Juan's ingenious adjustable hopper
35:54and Freddy's spray bar self-feed dirt into the trommel.
35:58Usually, I'm up there raking all the material down, so I'm almost out of a job.
36:06Freddy's manifold pushes more water volume into the trommel to spray fine pater into the brand-new sluice.
36:14The material's coming out way cleaner, so this used to be just caked with mud, so that's awesome.
36:25That's loose box.
36:26I felt it.
36:27Good.
36:28I'm happy with it, Freddy.
36:29I am, too.
36:30We got a four-pin-o, and we put Ferrari parts on it.
36:33That's what we did.
36:34Right?
36:38So who says driven can't be gold miners?
36:42Last bucket!
36:43Last bucket!
36:55Shut it up!
36:56Shut it up!
36:59Thank you!
37:08How's it look up there, Fred?
37:09There's so much sand in it that it's hard to see.
37:13See anything in there, Juan?
37:16Uh-uh.
37:16Nothing yet.
37:17It's not saying that there's nothing there, but...
37:19What do you think, ladies?
37:34Hello, ladies.
37:34That knot is in the middle of my stomach.
37:38We got a third of an ounce before.
37:40We need at least a half now.
37:41Yeah.
37:43Let's see what it is.
37:44Oh, my goodness.
37:45Half an ounce in four hours would mean Jamie and Christine could hit their 50-ounce season
37:51goal and secure their future as full-time miners.
37:55There's a tenth of an ounce.
37:57There's a tenth?
37:58There's a third of an ounce right there, so that's how much we did the first cleanup,
38:01right?
38:02Yeah.
38:02We're goals a half, right?
38:03In four?
38:04Yes.
38:05Well, there's a half an ounce right there.
38:07Exactly a half an ounce.
38:08There's your goal.
38:09There's still more in there.
38:11Keep going, Freddie.
38:12Keep going.
38:12Well, there just happens to be three quarters of an ounce there.
38:15Wow.
38:17Go, Freddie, go!
38:18Oh, my goodness.
38:19Wow.
38:20Well, let's keep going here.
38:22There were nine-tenths of an ounce.
38:24Wow.
38:24Oh, there's 1.17 ounces in four hours.
38:28Oh, my God, you guys!
38:30What?
38:321.25, exactly an ounce and a quarter.
38:35Oh, my gosh, you guys.
38:38And that's no BS.
38:39That's straight up.
38:40Wow, that's going to change our lives.
38:41That's how bad your plant was running.
38:44Can we stick with the positive?
38:46Over 50 days, Jamie and Christine could make 125 ounces worth $285,000, 150% more than
39:00their goal.
39:02Do you think you guys can make it on that?
39:04I think we can.
39:06That's a lot of haircuts.
39:10The fixes have just changed everything.
39:14It has completely opened up a whole new avenue of possibilities.
39:20We're not quitting.
39:21This is go.
39:23We want to be an inspiration for other females to show them you can be a miner.
39:27If you put your mind to it, you can do anything.
39:32Wow.
39:32And just think about how many of these gullies you guys have, right?
39:37And they're all going to carry gold.
39:38But do us a favor.
39:39Let us know how it does.
39:40Yes.
39:40Well, I guess you guys can actually add that to your scale there.
39:44Happy to do so.
39:45Yes.
39:47At this point, I know my dad is proud of us.
39:51I know he's proud of me.
39:53I know that he's down here watching and looking in the sluice.
39:57Hoping there's some big gold nuggets.
39:59You ladies, take care, okay?
40:03Thank you so much.
40:04Appreciate it.
40:09It's a win.
40:10Huge win.
40:12What just happened?
40:16On to the next one, Juano.
40:17Let's go.
40:18These ladies are on a track now where they could come out here and they could make a darn good living.
40:23Oh, that's so beautiful.
40:25I was confident that we could double the amount of gold.
40:28But we way more than doubled it.
40:30We're 400%.
40:31Yeah.
40:32If they want to sell this place, I'll buy it.
40:44Freddie and Juan, we wanted to give you an update.
40:47We have been running for another three weeks and we've been getting around that same amount when you guys were here.
40:56And oh my gosh, it's made such a huge difference.
40:59We wanted to share this pan for you.
41:00Oh my gosh, we are getting consistent running.
41:04We've gotten in three weeks, almost 42 ounces, which is about $95,000.
41:10Oh my gosh.
41:11Right?
41:12This is so exciting.
41:14More than double the goal.
41:15The truth is we're rocking it.
41:17We're so grateful.
41:18Yeah.
41:18It's just changed our world.
41:21Chicks with Pix signing out.
41:24Until the next time.
41:25Bye.
41:26Bye.
41:26Bye.
41:26See you next time.
41:27See you next time.
41:28Bye.
41:29Bye.
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