- 7/13/2025
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00:00:00I didn't came here for camping I came here to do a job
00:00:08for us it's been like a curse we're a hot mess
00:00:16Fred and Juan might just run away I think every aspect is a problem we genuinely might be screwed
00:00:26everything is online I have to sell an excavator to eat he never been mining this area as far as I
00:00:37know right we got tailings tailings this is tailings one of the biggest nuggets in the
00:00:44caribou was found out in this property specific where we're gonna be digging have a lot of gold
00:00:49at one time but somebody else has that gold now you know as the old saying goes a gold mine for
00:00:59sale is a hole in the ground with a liar standing above it Freddie Dodge I'd rather have gold in
00:01:09the bank than gold in the mountain and Juan Ibarra not bad for built in the field want to make you
00:01:15rich it turns your dream out here into a reality in the past five years the value of gold has doubled
00:01:24there's a three thousand dollar nugget right there but rookie miners find it more elusive than ever if
00:01:32we don't recover more gold then we could lose everything but there is hope miracles they do
00:01:39happen to turn desperation into fortune Freddie and Juan have one week what you just did this genius to
00:01:47deliver a golden payday they have a future and they know what they need to do
00:01:51well Freddie Raul and Helen are the people we're gonna go help and Raul he's originally from El
00:02:07Salvador roger that I'm glad we worked on my Spanish a little bit before we got here I know lots of cuss
00:02:14words you've taught me a few of them the good ones I taught yeah just don't tell my mom that she'll be
00:02:21upset early summer in the foothills of the caribou mountains in British Columbia and Freddie and Juan
00:02:30are responding to a Hail Mary call from a husband and wife team with a struggling mining operation who
00:02:37have invested over $400,000 so far with no return Raul reached out a little while ago and was telling
00:02:50me he sunk every dollar that he had into the operation he's right at Quenelle Forks so historically
00:02:56there's been 150 years mining in that area a half mile from the Paredes mine where the Quenelle and
00:03:07caribou rivers meet is Quenelle Forks the caribou region's first great gold rush town it's here that
00:03:16European and Asian miners discovered a gold rich valley in the summer of 1859 it produced over a
00:03:24hundred and twenty thousand ounces of gold almost 280 million dollars in today's money
00:03:37hello hello how's it going oh my goodness much better that we see you guys
00:03:43I'm Helen hi Helen meet you guys well it wasn't hard to find you at all right off the side of the
00:03:50road so nice how long you guys been out here we came last year and this year we came on board I
00:03:56mean again give it another shot you know we try we try we try and didn't happen so last year was your
00:04:03first year out here and just the two of you that's correct David is our kid he's involved but he only
00:04:08came only two to three weeks in his time off it's good to have your guys expertise on board here we can
00:04:15learn lots off you guys well we'll do the best we can are you guys mining full-time then yeah we're
00:04:21here every day I mean from seven to six prior to us there was somebody else mining this property three
00:04:28years ago and he was getting at least an ounce and a half to two ounces a day he mentioned to me that
00:04:34it was the goal was really good over here really really good mining is it's my passion it's my love my
00:04:47dream for this mine is we can make it as a family business now we got water I'm originally from El
00:04:55Salvador it's in Central America coming to Canada was a second opportunity to start a life two years ago
00:05:04Raul Paredes and his wife Helen staked a 700 acre claim in historic gold country you have to read
00:05:12my French I came to likely because it's still a lot of good gold here we got our own ground because
00:05:20people before me has been getting gold since I came here I've been trying my best it's been testing me
00:05:28to the limits hey Raul I think we need more pressure Helen is being with me since the beginning she's the
00:05:35one to look after the plan and I couldn't do what I do without her the dream of getting into gold mine
00:05:41actually is both for us we started with smaller wash plants and really really enjoyed the process but
00:05:49actually having a big wash plant I'm struggling we call the wash plant the octopus that's the first thing I
00:05:56thought about when I saw this big monster all these tubes going all over the place I'm probably in
00:06:02way over my head and we're having constant breakdowns that we haven't been able to really financially support
00:06:10to get things on the right track my situation at this moment is terrible barely make it to pay my rent
00:06:16for this month if I don't see something that can change or something like a hope it's not gonna happen
00:06:24how much gold did you do last year I would say probably an ounce and a half we watched probably
00:06:33five or 600 yards oh that's not good what about this year how much have you ran so far this year
00:06:40probably we've been running 200 years how much gold have you got out of 200 yards he probably eight
00:06:48grams yeah that's that's not good no well the old timer he mentioned to me that it was really really
00:06:59really good he said well you know you hope people have the best of intentions but sometimes they're just
00:07:04trying to drop it on you and get it get their investment back yeah what's your gold look like
00:07:08there it is pretty chunky huh yeah nothing real substantial though how much gold do you need per
00:07:18day to make a living ourself we'll be happy with an ounce of gold a day if things don't work out here
00:07:25this is it I'm done what do you have invested in this time and blood and sweat and tears invested in
00:07:34this yeah yeah it's very emotional because we love what we do and the best thing for us to do is
00:07:47what we like to do we come in we want to watch your operation watch it watch a test run and then after
00:07:53that we'll we'll come up with a game plan thank you very much all right let's have a look around your
00:07:57plan okay excited meeting Raul and Helen immediately you can tell that they're just really sincere humble
00:08:05people but his love and his desire to want to be a miner has gotten to the point where it's not
00:08:09detrimental to his finances they're looking at us as their Hail Mary to help them you know kind of pull
00:08:15their mind out of bankruptcy if we don't do what we need to do here essentially Raul and Helen's mining
00:08:21career is over it's your plant huh this is the octopus the octopus all the green hoses yeah last
00:08:30year when you were running were you running this plant that's correct I look at the long term you
00:08:35know hoping that things we're gonna get better recovery is some gold well let's fire it up run it
00:08:40okay let's do it one thing's for sure they're in a tight spot I think they're about broke hopefully we
00:08:54can help them you know the plant in itself is an issue you know everything
00:08:58holy that's loud you can hear that screen on the dark side of the moon
00:09:09okay we're rolling
00:09:15start a timer home on them yeah let's get it going
00:09:23first Raul feeds pay dirt into a 10 by 6 foot hopper a vibrating punch plate screens out the
00:09:33large material before the gold bearing pay falls into Raul's four 10 foot long sluices
00:09:40I'm nervous I want everything to run well but I want it to be realistic to what's happening in our
00:09:49our our daily lives it's not running well and they need to see that so they're gonna see why we need a lot of help
00:10:00is that a loose screen in it yeah punch plate it's loose evidently huh oh play loose side pensioners aren't there they're welded in
00:10:08probably the most ineffective screen I've ever seen the materials being screened too big right now they're not
00:10:17classifying their material can't have proper concentration without proper classification
00:10:21classification is when a screen or punch plate divides out large rocks allowing the smaller gold
00:10:30bearing dirt to run into the plant sluices all back all back
00:10:37all back
00:10:39the sluice boxes are absolutely just in rough shape
00:10:49a lot going wrong here well that's a lot going wrong
00:10:53there we go you know in order to be able to get this operation into a position where they could
00:11:01be cash positive every aspect of this process needs to be worked on
00:11:05we just lost lost water that's not good we gotta need you with the pump shut her down coming out of the
00:11:23cap oh it looks like a trap every day something happened it's been like a curse
00:11:30I wish we could have done the four hours but that's what we got well let's pull the mats huh
00:11:40pump cap out of action after just one hour Raul and Helen are forced to shut down and pull the mats
00:11:51you know it's disappointment because I put my heart and soul in this
00:11:56I just wanted to look at this material you're running it just doesn't look good
00:12:02I'm going to tap a couple pans of it and see uh what we see in it
00:12:08this is right out of the pay file the stuff they're running through the plant
00:12:16are you guys testing at all as you're mining like panning much or I've had more time out here
00:12:24I'll pan more yeah it's the most important thing though no it'll get you too busy fixing stuff
00:12:32yeah wait what are you looking for I'd like to see 20 colors 20 colors yeah
00:12:38nothing no gold not a color that's not good sorry guys yeah that's good to know
00:12:47you had a guy that came up to me and he say you want to make a quick dollar right away right away
00:12:57in a week you'll have five grand ten grand whatever you know he said to me come down here and I even
00:13:07asking me I say are you for sure anyway it is what it is I guess sometimes it is my fault because
00:13:14nobody put a gun on my head and tell me to do it right I did it I took the rest thing that's dead
00:13:19for gold
00:13:21Raul's got a big heart and he wears it on his sleeve you know he's the good guy so you hate
00:13:31giving people news they don't want to hear right the difficult part about this rescue is we're
00:13:40starting from scratch you know the ground that they have we know has no gold the plant has to be
00:13:44re-engineered I'm a little nervous about being able to get it done in time and more nervous about trying
00:13:49to find better ground this guy no socks
00:13:53getting out here and meeting Raul and Helen you can tell right right from the beginning they're
00:14:12great people they are great you know the way that Raul speaks and he's very compassionate and
00:14:17very emotional you can tell he's a real caring person yeah but I think his desire and his motivation
00:14:22to mine kind of trumped going out there and actually testing and figuring out what was there before he
00:14:28committed no that's the problem with listening to hearsay you know everyone has a story about how
00:14:33the ground is so great grab a gold pan grab a test plan grab a high banker whatever you know test it
00:14:40yourself I'm really hoping that we can deliver on this with ready
00:14:43moment of truth good morning
00:14:52good morning how are you doing in British Columbia after a cracked pump cap shortened their test run to
00:14:59an hour Raul Paredes and his wife Helen have the gold they cleaned from their mats when we need that
00:15:06you know it's not going to be a good thing holy cow very sad well it's not weighable yep can't buy a can
00:15:17of soup with that Raul and Helen need to make an ounce of gold a day to run their plant and pay back their
00:15:25investors he had a thousand dollars worth of expenses for 50 cents worth of gold if you were
00:15:31getting you know a quarter ounce for you know for the day that that's still a death but that's a
00:15:36really quick death yes that doesn't even cover the fuel that it costs to start the equipment so where
00:15:41do we go from here we can fix your plant but we need to go look at your ground we need more
00:15:46understanding and more more information more information about the ground all righty well
00:15:52sounds like a plan thanks Freddie thank you thank you that's probably one of the worst gold waves we've
00:15:57ever had there's no way they're ever going to be able to pay back their investment or uh their
00:16:01investors mining like that unfortunately Freddie and I were not miracle workers the gold that's in
00:16:07the ground it's in the ground so it puts a lot more stress on Freddie and myself to be able to go
00:16:11out and perform and do something good for these people hey Raul what's going on let's not waste
00:16:20any more time down here and I think it's actually I think it's a really good lesson you got to do that
00:16:27testing before we set up these elaborate setups and then find there's no gold we believe a few people
00:16:38maybe it was no true I always listen to other people maybe I'm doing something wrong I think
00:16:47that imagination runs a little bit too wild we've got to get wiser at how we mind to get these depths
00:16:54cleared up because we're getting too old to play this game this way
00:16:58all good we'll figure it out
00:17:07Raul's a very determined person he's met challenges in his life most human beings shouldn't have to go
00:17:15through he came to Canada to escape the situation that was happening in El Salvador
00:17:21I came as a political refugee in 1991 by that time in El Salvador there was no democracy
00:17:30in 1979 El Salvador plunged into a 12-year civil war that saw over 75,000 people die
00:17:44at the time Raul worked at a Jesuit university one fateful day the Salvadoran army raided the
00:17:57building he worked in I took 10 minutes early for lunch and that's when the incident happened they
00:18:05murdered six Jesuit priests their housekeeper and her daughter everybody that was at that moment in the
00:18:14building was murdered they didn't get me known as the Jesuit massacre it's one of the most high-profile
00:18:24religious crimes in modern Latin American history my dad came up to me one day and he said you know what I
00:18:31don't want to live with my conscience that tomorrow they found you on the road dead the next day at 730 in
00:18:39the morning I was in a plane and I wasn't good that was it that's the last time I ever see my family
00:18:47it was tough for me to leave my country I came to this country with seven dollars in my pocket didn't
00:18:55know how to speak English coming to Canada was a second opportunity to start a life it's been tough for me I
00:19:02have to find to go what are you thinking on the plant buddy well the plan itself Fred you know we
00:19:19have a lot of issues I can see why they named it the octopus yeah we call this the screen right yeah
00:19:24the screen here's the the hopper feeder that they have yep first and foremost most the racket that we're
00:19:30hearing is that punch plate that they have that's one of the loudest screens I've ever heard is not
00:19:34installed properly but more important than that the punch plate is too big big way too big we've got
00:19:39two inch rocks going down this looks so I think what we may have to do is I'll build new punch plates
00:19:44okay what about the sluices one right now there's no room for gold the material it's blowing it out of
00:19:50the box I'm gonna pull everything out Fred getting rid of those those three or four runs that he has and
00:19:55just make two runs yeah and then what I'd like to do is put one of our distribution boxes in there
00:19:59our standard shoot where it comes out has a splitter and then it perfectly divides that material between
00:20:05the two runs yeah those are the three big key things that I need to get done on that plant but more
00:20:10important than the plant if you don't have gold to put to the plant it means nothing right yeah well
00:20:15I'm gonna go prospecting honestly I think we could use a little help what if we bring Alex and Travi in
00:20:20yeah I think that would be better let's go do it let's do it on Raul's plant nicknamed the octopus
00:20:29oversized rocks jam the system and pack the sluices one will fabricate two teardrop hole punch plates
00:20:37to screen out oversized pay then to give the plant a chance to collect every speck of fine gold one will
00:20:47reduce the sluices from four to two to better control the water flow and design a two-way v-shoot
00:20:56distribution box to spread the pay between them to allow the sluices to flow evenly Freddy's main mission
00:21:05will be to decode 150 years of old-timer mining to track down a pocket of gold that will save Raul and
00:21:13Helen's operation going guys we're a bit nervous we did a little bit of figuring out while you were
00:21:22running we saw a lot of issues a lot one of them is that you're screening too big right so we're gonna
00:21:27pull what you have out build a whole new top deck and then we're gonna build a new system to go on the
00:21:32site to actually tension the the screens into the screen nice your sluices are not good yeah it's just
00:21:39it's too too messy what we're gonna do we're gonna do two two traditional sluice boxes but before the
00:21:45sluice boxes we're gonna actually put a distribution box in so both runs are gonna get equal amount of
00:21:49material and water and we'll fix that pump cap for you right essentially we're gonna rebuild the whole
00:21:55wash plant wow so it's no longer gonna be an octopus we're gonna have to rename it um and then Freddy is
00:22:00gonna try to dedicate most of his time to to prospecting because you're gonna be out there you
00:22:04know pounding the pavement trying to find some decent ground well you've got a lot of property here but
00:22:09there's been a lot of people on it before you everything I see is tailings right so we've got
00:22:13multiple things going on here that are fighting against us right now so we need to go punch a bunch
00:22:19of holes okay yeah it's a lot of work we talked as well so we aren't gonna charge you anything yeah
00:22:26you know considering where you guys are at and everything you got going on we understand your
00:22:32guys financial situation and both Freddy and I have been very blessed so um we're happy to do it for
00:22:37for nothing you know material and labor we're just gonna pick up the tab on oh wow that's oh that's
00:22:42amazing you guys we can't thank you enough hopefully down the road we can that's fine if not not not the
00:22:48end of the world yeah I appreciate very much the help from you guys you know I mean it's this this is
00:22:55our life there is hope for us to continue what we love to do deal then yeah I'm blessed to have Freddy
00:23:05I'm blessed to have one but they can see that we're struggling and hopefully he can find good material
00:23:11for us it's not over yet so we're gonna have a new plan yes I know that and maybe some gold to put
00:23:18in it these guys are a pickle for lack of better words so hopefully fingers crossed we can find them
00:23:25some gold for their future coming up there was a lot of gold right here it's now in somebody else's
00:23:34bank account you can tell by the look right here the whole thing's built off we're gonna run out of
00:23:38time on this one you know this has really turned into a show what we're trying to do here is learn
00:23:56before Freddy attempts to find Raul new ground he must seek advice from a local expert
00:24:03I kind of consider myself a redneck geologist but I don't know this area so the more knowledge I can
00:24:11get from somebody that's grown up here that's mine here that's worked here that knows the geology of
00:24:17the area is going to be of great benefit to one and myself how's it going not too bad Elf right right
00:24:27nice this is pretty cool old steam shovel I've never seen one of these in real life I've seen
00:24:36them you know in pictures and in books took a whole crew to run this one gold fever has been here since
00:24:42the 1800s question for you over at rules across the valley is most of this gold in the surface they said it
00:24:51was a mile deep here I imagine yeah yeah it's unbelievable so when you start mining here 1980
00:24:58nice so when gold spiked gold spiked that we all got the fever we all come running out here I didn't
00:25:05move here until 96 so 44 years huh yeah off and on now this is one of the better nuggets I got that's my
00:25:13souvenir from gold oh that's beautiful yeah absolutely beautiful that's one of the prettiest
00:25:19nuggets I've ever seen yeah with the courts like that so over the decades you mind here you know was
00:25:26it up and down very and a lot more down than up actually yeah do you think the gold's the same over
00:25:34rules it's crazy place to mine you just think you're on it nice on a channel yeah cuts right off the
00:25:41gold's here and then it's shifts over here the rivers coming up and down and moving around and
00:25:46yeah but here we've had two glaciation periods yeah and moved it around the world's biggest bulldozer
00:25:54that's for sure the ground's very erratic you'll hit good but you'll be a lot of poor in between
00:26:03there's still gold around here to be found I'm sure about that you got to get through all the lean dirt to
00:26:09get the good dirt you know you put it in my head that it's spotty right yes that's right bulk testing
00:26:15is the way to do it that's what I recommend yeah I really appreciate your help see you later sir thank
00:26:21you gold mining essentially it's a treasure hunt the guys that were here before us they took most of the
00:26:29treasure but there's got to be some gold left here
00:26:41so this is where the magic happens
00:26:45back at the parade is mine Juan begins to fix the wash plants cracked pump cap that brought the first test run to a standstill
00:26:53we got an issue with the pump over time pressure changes in the pump creates weakness in the metal known
00:27:01as fatigue cracks which eventually buckle the cap oh it looks like it's cracked
00:27:11so how long does it take to build something like this we should be able to get it done in about a half an hour
00:27:15that fast
00:27:21wasn't expecting that in minutes one 25 000 degree laser cuts the pump cap pieces out of a three gauge steel sheet
00:27:34wow that was absolutely amazing i've never seen anything like it that worked out good huh yeah it did well
00:27:40well let's put it together real quick ready i can see how amazing it is to have the proper tools on
00:27:48site because if we're not running we're not making money what's it like working with raul he doesn't give
00:27:58up easy most days and we just have a blast but it does have its challenges when you're with your partner
00:28:0424 7 that um uh you can have disagreements but uh we believe in a more positive outcome in mining than
00:28:14what we've been experiencing yeah
00:28:19raul and i met each other about 13 years ago on a dating application we just kind of had it it was cute
00:28:30long black hair the sexy accent and i thought okay i'll bite
00:28:34all right
00:28:36raul was first offered a job in the yukon gold mining he fell in love and then a couple years later
00:28:44i also helped on that journey and i thought okay this is it this is our lifestyle
00:28:51after 13 years we have our tests but most of the time it's a beautiful journey together
00:28:58raul has my back at every step um i love him
00:29:04hola got her down fred let's see if it fits
00:29:07it doesn't do much
00:29:09nada
00:29:11this seal looks pretty good we can try it there it is perfect with this cap we don't have to be too
00:29:19worried about the pressure we put on that
00:29:31i'm proud of what we did there it seems like it's working out
00:29:33only somebody like juan couldn't make it that fast for us so we're we're good i'm happy
00:29:49ui
00:29:51these are the maps of raul's claims and he's got roughly 700 acres here
00:29:56with five days to put raul on the gold freddy plots out his prospecting plan
00:30:03it helps to have an aerial view sometimes right you can definitely tell you know this lower area
00:30:08where we're at right now has been hit hard that meant there was quite a bit of gold here right
00:30:14But I can see on here, and I can see visually on the ground, that river used to be up there.
00:30:19And before that, it was up there, right?
00:30:21So I don't know if it's been mined, but that's where we need to start.
00:30:25Freddie aims to follow what looks like an old river channel
00:30:29and has identified three promising locations, with the first in the north.
00:30:36One thing Raul didn't do here is prospect his property.
00:30:40So he's kind of up the river without a really good paddle right now.
00:30:44But that doesn't mean there's not hope left here.
00:30:47This area has produced a tremendous amount of gold.
00:30:50The easy stuff's probably gone.
00:30:52But there's still a lot of gold around here.
00:30:54We just got to find it.
00:30:58In the next valley to Raul and Helen's property,
00:31:01the famous bullion pit mine is a lasting legacy to the incredible richness of the ground.
00:31:08From 1892, this placer mine was operational for 50 years
00:31:14and pulled out over 175,000 ounces of gold, worth $400 million in today's money.
00:31:23Right now, these guys are in their desperate spot.
00:31:34Every ounce of gold, every speck of gold we can help them get means everything to them.
00:31:39So, basically, the pressure's on me now.
00:31:44We've got to find mineable ground that's fairly easy to get to,
00:31:48to put money in its pocket, or they won't be mining very long.
00:31:53You said you had to sell your house to keep mining?
00:31:55One big deal is you need to do some testing on your own.
00:32:14Let's say you want to buy this piece of property,
00:32:17and the owner's got all this paperwork from years past.
00:32:22Sometimes that doesn't matter in gold mining, though, if the gold's not there.
00:32:26Don't trust what they've got wrote down most of the time,
00:32:29unless you really know the people.
00:32:31You know, trust what your own eyes tell you.
00:32:33Get in there and do some sampling.
00:32:35That's right.
00:32:36You can work your hands to bloody nimbles and still not make any money.
00:32:51Trying to figure out what's going on with the creek.
00:32:55Is that the same creek that goes into your mind now?
00:33:01Yes.
00:33:03Freddie has identified a section of ground he believes was once part of the Quenelle River,
00:33:09a major tributary for the famous Gold Rush-Fraser River of the Caribou District.
00:33:14See, now this is truly a bench.
00:33:20See, and this is too steep to hold gravels here.
00:33:24So here's the bench, but I don't know how much of it's been hit.
00:33:28Over millions of years, a bench is formed when an ancient river carves its way down a mountain.
00:33:35As it changes course, it leaves gravels that could be rich in gold.
00:33:45Freddie hopes that this area, if not hit, might give Raul some high-grade pay.
00:33:51They've knocked all the trees down.
00:33:53All these trees are, you know, a couple decades old.
00:33:58It's just hard to tell what's been played with.
00:34:00So let's get an excavator up here and punch some holes and see what we see.
00:34:04See what's tailings and what's not.
00:34:06Because with everything grown on it, where we're standing,
00:34:09did they mine this and then backfill it?
00:34:11Or, you know, yeah, okay, we'll do that.
00:34:15You know, there's hope.
00:34:17He's throwing me a life jacket so I won't drown.
00:34:20Hopefully it can change my life.
00:34:24The old-timers hit it hard.
00:34:26It looks like, you know, they hit it hard probably in the 30s and in the 80s and in the 90s.
00:34:30So there's a lot on the line for these guys.
00:34:33A lot.
00:34:34How's it going, guys?
00:34:51How are we doing?
00:34:52Good.
00:34:53In British Columbia, Alex and Travis arrive at the Paredes mine site to provide some extra muscle.
00:35:00Bring your gloves.
00:35:02Gloves and a third welding truck.
00:35:03It's kind of scary when you two say you need a third welding truck.
00:35:07Perfect.
00:35:07All right, guys, we'll look at it.
00:35:08Let's get it.
00:35:14Guide me for my tips.
00:35:16Down a little bit.
00:35:17With Freddy focused on the prospecting mission, Alex and Travis helped one with Raul's new sluices.
00:35:27So this sluice box looks really wide, but it's actually two sluice boxes in one.
00:35:30We're going to put a center divider in it, and then we're going to have two runs that are two and a half feet wide each.
00:35:36For that plant to run efficiently, it has to have a five-foot box.
00:35:39We'll build one box and split it down the middle.
00:35:42You know, if we ran just one big box, there was no guarantee that you'd get an even flow.
00:35:46But by being able to put it down to two and a half foot each stream, we're able to concentrate it a little better and actually get better recovery with a smaller box.
00:35:55Juan will remove the overcomplicated octopus hose feed system and install two custom-made 10-foot sluice boxes to better capture gold.
00:36:05This is perfect welding weather.
00:36:17You know, when it's over 100 degrees, it's perfect to weld in.
00:36:20It really makes it enjoyable.
00:36:23I'm really hoping that Freddy going up there and taking a look at the cut might kind of open up some options for Raul and Helen.
00:36:30That's a lot.
00:36:31We just got to keep our nose to the grindstone and keep on working right now.
00:36:34Let's go!
00:36:35Here's the bench.
00:36:46I'm going to punch one over here.
00:36:47You want to try one here?
00:36:49Yeah.
00:36:51To the north of Raul's claim, Freddy digs deeper into the first location he's identified.
00:36:58This would have been a gold-bearing bench in this area.
00:37:01But looking at it, I can't tell if what we're standing on has been a mine or anything.
00:37:06We're just going to have to look around here and start punching some holes and see what the material looks like.
00:37:12We're just going to have to look around here and see what the material looks like.
00:37:20Thank you!
00:37:28It's tailings.
00:37:29I don't know if I believe whoever he bought this place from.
00:37:47Everything's tailings.
00:37:49There is no point to it.
00:37:50Every rock here has been washed.
00:37:52There was a lot of gold right here.
00:37:53It's now in somebody else's bank account.
00:37:55But if there is a 10-foot square area here, number one, it's not going to be enough to mine.
00:38:02And number two, finding it.
00:38:04That's like finding a needle in the haystark, right?
00:38:06Where your track go out trying to find a little sliver of something.
00:38:10The more time goes by, the more worried I've become.
00:38:15That's what it's reality.
00:38:16Just right now, I don't have the answer.
00:38:22Where?
00:38:39So cutting this punch plate is going to probably take a little over an hour and a half each plate.
00:38:44Back at Juan's build site.
00:38:46As the rescue crew continues to work on the sluices, Juan and David kick off the wash plant's punch plates.
00:38:54So the design that we're doing on this is a teardrop design.
00:38:58It's something that Freddie and I have used in the past.
00:39:00That way the material, when it goes over the top of the screen, has a chance to relieve itself.
00:39:03And also we leave a little bit bigger.
00:39:05That way if there is, the odd chance of that bigger nugget still has a chance to be able to make it through.
00:39:11Fixed onto the hopper's screen deck,
00:39:13the plates will allow gold-bearing material through into the sluices.
00:39:18Be careful.
00:39:28That looks good, David.
00:39:30That's probably plenty.
00:39:32You know, when we put that in, as the material goes over the top of it, it'll wear it out.
00:39:37So it'll push all that out.
00:39:38It's not a big deal.
00:39:39How come the teardrop design you have going on here?
00:39:41You know, that's a design that we've kind of done over the years.
00:39:44It starts out about a quarter of an inch and goes to half an inch.
00:39:47It's pretty effective for when you screen material.
00:39:49Oh, awesome.
00:39:50So a quick question for you.
00:39:51How did you get involved in all this?
00:39:52My parents come out and mine every year.
00:39:56So I just, I come out and help whenever I can.
00:40:00I really enjoy it.
00:40:01I love the prospecting of gold mining,
00:40:06sticking the shovel in the ground and into the pan and seeing what's going to come up.
00:40:13David spends his time between his role as a firefighter and his passion for mining
00:40:18and has become a key asset to Raul and Mum Helen's operation.
00:40:24I am a very hands-on type of person.
00:40:28They give me a book.
00:40:29I'm horrible at the book, but they give me a piece of equipment.
00:40:32I can run that all day.
00:40:34I also bring energy to the team.
00:40:39Bills are going to be paid.
00:40:41And the job I have is very secured.
00:40:44But if the gold is stable and consistent,
00:40:48I come out here and help Mum Helen Helen,
00:40:50because they absolutely deserve it.
00:40:55Hold on.
00:40:56Watch your fingers.
00:40:59I thought it'd be lighter with all those holes in it,
00:41:02but it's still pretty heavy.
00:41:04They're not light, are they?
00:41:05You want to get these guys set up with a slag hammer
00:41:07and start poking all those out.
00:41:09Okay.
00:41:09Yeah, I can do that.
00:41:15Very good.
00:41:16So it's your property?
00:41:27That's correct.
00:41:28Now, this property almost go up to the Caribou River.
00:41:32Back out on the hunt for gold,
00:41:34and after one failed prospect,
00:41:36Freddy moves on to his next location
00:41:38in the middle of the bench formation.
00:41:41People that we bought the property,
00:41:44we find a few colors,
00:41:46and he said to me,
00:41:49well, you can start from there.
00:41:51I mean, we run some.
00:41:54Yeah, we find colors,
00:41:55but nothing.
00:41:57Nothing to make us super rich.
00:42:00None of this looks good to me.
00:42:02This is just what they dug out
00:42:04when they made the pond.
00:42:05When they dig a pile out like that,
00:42:07and then they don't sluice it,
00:42:09when they have a plant set up in here,
00:42:11that tells you a story, right?
00:42:15Looks like they were going broke.
00:42:19And they took the quick going broke way
00:42:21and got out.
00:42:22It was our own life savings money.
00:42:28Maybe it was my fault
00:42:30to listen to other people.
00:42:33The lesson that I learned,
00:42:34you know,
00:42:35is do your own testing,
00:42:38because it's very tough
00:42:39to learn it this way.
00:42:41You can see that
00:42:42the old timers haven't done much.
00:42:45The modern people haven't done much,
00:42:46and there's a reason,
00:42:47because from what I see so far,
00:42:50there's not much gold in the ground up here.
00:42:53Like the old saying goes,
00:42:54a gold mine for sale
00:42:55is a hole in the ground
00:42:56with a liar standing above it.
00:43:13This is a real horrible part of the day.
00:43:16In British Columbia,
00:43:17facing an uncertain future,
00:43:20Helen struggles to pay bills.
00:43:24It's overwhelming.
00:43:26Like, we've got people
00:43:27that we need to pay back.
00:43:29Then we've got our regular bills,
00:43:31like our rent,
00:43:31and all our fuel for the equipment.
00:43:35The reality is,
00:43:36we need to get into that gold.
00:43:38Like, yesterday,
00:43:39we've made a ton of mistakes.
00:43:43Definitely identifying the ground.
00:43:46You've got to be on the gold.
00:43:48And then that wash plant is too much.
00:43:51It's too complicated.
00:43:52I wish I had been armed
00:43:56with the information
00:43:57that Frenny and Juan gave us
00:43:59before I started this journey.
00:44:02I would be way wiser
00:44:04and probably still have
00:44:06a lot more money in my pocket.
00:44:08Lead the way, Raul.
00:44:16Let's go look at this up there.
00:44:18Okay.
00:44:18After drawing a bust
00:44:20at the first two locations,
00:44:22Freddy is down to his last option,
00:44:24a patch of ground
00:44:25to the south of Raul's claim,
00:44:2850 yards from his main cut.
00:44:30We're just going to have
00:44:31to look around here
00:44:32and see if there's any ground
00:44:34that's still mineable.
00:44:35The old timers hit it hard.
00:44:37So trying to read this,
00:44:40I can't see into the ground.
00:44:42But I know one thing's for sure.
00:44:45We're running out of options fast.
00:44:49Let's keep looking around, huh?
00:44:51Yes, sir.
00:44:58This is tailings.
00:45:01See the tailings here.
00:45:04Tailings there.
00:45:07Hang on one second.
00:45:15I like the look of this stuff.
00:45:19You like this stuff?
00:45:20Yeah, it's better than anything else
00:45:21I've seen that isn't tailings.
00:45:23Okay.
00:45:24See how the rocks
00:45:25are shingled in there?
00:45:26Uh-huh.
00:45:27See the difference
00:45:28of the material looks
00:45:29compared to what you were digging, right?
00:45:30Yeah.
00:45:31I don't know how much
00:45:31of it's here, though.
00:45:32We need to find out
00:45:33what's under here.
00:45:35Under here?
00:45:36Yeah.
00:45:36Let's see what we got.
00:45:38This may be your last chance.
00:45:40Freddy, I'm going to get
00:45:41on the excavator.
00:45:42Okay?
00:45:43I'm very excited.
00:45:45Freddy's discovered
00:45:46what he believes
00:45:47to be virgin ground
00:45:48surrounded by tailings.
00:45:50Kind of a little excited
00:45:53to know that
00:45:53maybe there is
00:45:54a pocket of gold
00:45:55over there
00:45:56and changed my life.
00:46:00Hang on one second, bro.
00:46:03No, you don't have
00:46:04to go that far.
00:46:06Not that far.
00:46:07No, just scrape the face.
00:46:10Bro!
00:46:13Just...
00:46:13Just scrape the face
00:46:18from right there down.
00:46:20Okay.
00:46:21You'll have to back up.
00:46:26Okay, now reach out
00:46:28and scrape it.
00:46:29Don't take the whole hill down.
00:46:31That may be the only
00:46:32virgin material we got.
00:46:33What did you see, Freddy?
00:46:50You know, it looks good.
00:46:55Take a snapshot in your brain
00:46:56of how this material
00:46:57in the bank looks, right?
00:46:58I want to show you
00:46:59something in this hole.
00:47:01You can tell it's
00:47:02virgin material.
00:47:03Because
00:47:04just the way
00:47:06it's laying in there.
00:47:07In nature,
00:47:08that rock right there,
00:47:10right,
00:47:10when it's in a stream system,
00:47:12isn't going to stand up
00:47:13like that, is it?
00:47:14Water's going to hit it.
00:47:15It's going to fall over.
00:47:16So that tells us
00:47:18once upon a time,
00:47:19water flowed through here
00:47:20and helped concentrate the gold.
00:47:25So in the future,
00:47:26you know, look for this
00:47:27and look for your shingled rocks.
00:47:30I will.
00:47:32Let's keep punching
00:47:33a hole down.
00:47:34Hopefully it gets you
00:47:35enough gold in your pocket
00:47:36where you can keep going.
00:47:41Well, the past two days
00:47:42have been kind of
00:47:44a real pain in the butt,
00:47:46for lack of better words.
00:47:48You know, look here.
00:47:49You know, it doesn't look good.
00:47:51Look there.
00:47:51It's all been mined,
00:47:52all tailings.
00:47:53But there's a little
00:47:54glimmer of hope
00:47:55because we just found
00:47:55some virgin material
00:47:56over here.
00:47:57And it looks good to me.
00:47:58Just leave it right there, Ro.
00:48:07What's your opinion?
00:48:07So there's definitely
00:48:12a division
00:48:13on what's going on here.
00:48:14We've got two types
00:48:16of material in there.
00:48:17It could be spotty ground.
00:48:19We got tailings
00:48:20and virgin ground.
00:48:22We're in a situation,
00:48:23do you go broke fast
00:48:24or do you go broke slow?
00:48:26So we need to test
00:48:28that material
00:48:29and see if it's worth
00:48:30digging it up.
00:48:31Yep, yep.
00:48:32Bulk test is way better
00:48:34than a gold pan.
00:48:35Instead of doing, you know,
00:48:3710 gold pans,
00:48:38let's do 10,000 gold pans
00:48:39and see what lives in it.
00:48:41Let's get this thing
00:48:42knocked out.
00:48:43We're running out of time.
00:48:44Last season,
00:48:51one of the guys,
00:48:52he left the trommel
00:48:53over here.
00:48:54The chain broke down.
00:48:56To bulk test
00:48:56the new material,
00:48:58Freddy eyes up
00:48:59a broken down test trommel
00:49:00he's seen
00:49:01in Raul's bone yard.
00:49:03What do you think?
00:49:05I like it, Fred.
00:49:05I like the idea.
00:49:07What's the test trommel, huh?
00:49:09This is a trommel.
00:49:10Have you used it?
00:49:11We washed two yards,
00:49:13then things went sour.
00:49:15The master link,
00:49:16it broke.
00:49:19Another issue that I had,
00:49:20it doesn't have a spray bar
00:49:22in the trommel.
00:49:24The motor run?
00:49:24Yes, it does.
00:49:26We had it to start
00:49:27just with a rope here.
00:49:28Yeah, okay.
00:49:29But yeah, it runs.
00:49:30What we might be able
00:49:31to do here is,
00:49:32even if I do
00:49:33another section of sprockets,
00:49:35and then we'll put
00:49:36a spray bar in it,
00:49:37get these two
00:49:38tied into one manifold
00:49:39so we have one pump
00:49:40feeding the whole system
00:49:41instead of multiple pumps.
00:49:42Yep.
00:49:43Five times cheaper
00:49:45to run than
00:49:46the main wash plant,
00:49:48Raul will be able
00:49:49to use this trommel
00:49:50on every piece
00:49:51of promising ground.
00:49:53It's a big weight
00:49:53on our shoulders.
00:49:54Freddy and I want to do
00:49:55the most that we can here
00:49:56to help Raul and Helen,
00:49:57and that looks like
00:49:58it's going to be us
00:49:59having to work
00:50:00on their test trommel
00:50:00and also on their main plant.
00:50:02So it's really
00:50:03a two-in-one rescue,
00:50:04and that's a lot of work.
00:50:07To provide Raul
00:50:08a way to bulk test
00:50:10his spotty ground,
00:50:11one will resurrect
00:50:12the test trommel
00:50:13with a new spray bar,
00:50:15then design a bespoke manifold
00:50:18to maintain uniform water pressure
00:50:20throughout the system.
00:50:23To keep gold-bearing pay
00:50:25moving through the plant,
00:50:27they'll add a custom-made sprocket
00:50:29and chain
00:50:29to efficiently rotate its drum
00:50:32and add Freddy's signature riffles
00:50:36in the sluice
00:50:37to catch fine gold.
00:50:40These were something
00:50:42that they added on
00:50:42to the trommel
00:50:43to be able to guide the chain,
00:50:45but they didn't really work.
00:50:46So we're going to pull
00:50:47this complete assembly off
00:50:48and build a whole new
00:50:48assembly for it.
00:50:56That was a better one.
00:50:57The sprocket's going to actually
00:51:00be a two-piece sprocket
00:51:01that we've weld
00:51:02on the outside of this drum.
00:51:03That way it can actually
00:51:04turn the trommel.
00:51:10Okay, Fred,
00:51:11I'm going to be spinning
00:51:11this for a second.
00:51:16What I'm doing is
00:51:16I'm just getting it lined up
00:51:17and I'm about ready
00:51:18to start welding it
00:51:19to the drum.
00:51:19We want to make sure
00:51:20that it's perfectly aligned
00:51:21with the drive sprocket
00:51:22so that way when it runs,
00:51:23it runs true.
00:51:24The true,
00:51:25we can get it right now
00:51:26when we're setting it up.
00:51:27The better it's going to run
00:51:27in the long run.
00:51:29Put the clamp on it
00:51:30and then bring the piece
00:51:31of chain over here
00:51:31and we'll do the same thing
00:51:32over here.
00:51:33Fun times, Freddy.
00:51:34Fun, fun.
00:51:40With the chain connected
00:51:41to the trommel's drive system,
00:51:43There you are.
00:51:44Can you let go of it?
00:51:45Juan takes the drum
00:51:47for a spin.
00:51:48Starge up.
00:51:57How did that get far off?
00:52:01And I went right on my line.
00:52:04Let's see.
00:52:05It's built off
00:52:06and it's...
00:52:07It is.
00:52:07It's crooked.
00:52:08It's not built square.
00:52:09No.
00:52:09The base for the motor
00:52:11that runs the trommel
00:52:12is welded on
00:52:13out of line.
00:52:14I'm just going to have to
00:52:15readjust.
00:52:16It's just going to slow me down.
00:52:17The whole thing's built off.
00:52:18Yeah.
00:52:19And you can tell by the
00:52:20look right here.
00:52:22They got a quarter inch difference
00:52:23from here to here.
00:52:23Yeah.
00:52:24I'm going to cut the motor off
00:52:25and shift the whole thing.
00:52:26I'm going to have to.
00:52:27That's the only...
00:52:28That's the only way I can
00:52:29get it close.
00:52:31Yeah, it is.
00:52:31We genuinely might be screwed.
00:52:33So, really,
00:52:34the pressure's on now.
00:52:36We have a lot more work
00:52:37than what we originally
00:52:38anticipated
00:52:39because we're going to
00:52:40run out of time
00:52:40on this one.
00:52:51It's always something,
00:52:52Moan.
00:52:53At the Paredes Mine
00:52:55in British Columbia.
00:52:57Whomever built this,
00:52:58you know,
00:52:59they had great intentions,
00:53:00but unfortunately,
00:53:01they didn't know
00:53:01how to read a measuring tape.
00:53:03After fixing up
00:53:04the test trauma,
00:53:05Freddie and Juan
00:53:06discover the motor's mount
00:53:07is off-center.
00:53:09I assumed things
00:53:11were square and straight.
00:53:12You know,
00:53:12the gearbox,
00:53:13the way they had it set up,
00:53:14it wasn't perpendicular
00:53:15to the drum,
00:53:16which created a lot of problems.
00:53:18But that's how it goes.
00:53:20We're just going to have
00:53:21to make it up somewhere.
00:53:25What you think?
00:53:26You got something figured out?
00:53:28Something else pops out
00:53:29and bites you right in the ass.
00:53:31So are we still square
00:53:35on your sprocket down there?
00:53:37Yeah, pretty square.
00:53:38Okay, that's good.
00:53:39Yeah.
00:53:39Let me weld it right there.
00:53:45We're good.
00:53:50I like it, Freddie.
00:53:53Someone built that
00:53:53in their garage.
00:53:54They had the best of intentions.
00:53:55They tried hard,
00:53:56but unfortunately,
00:53:57nothing was right.
00:53:58But I'm really happy
00:54:00the way it turned out.
00:54:14Okay, we're going to lift this up.
00:54:16With just two days to go,
00:54:18one puts the main wash plant
00:54:20on hold
00:54:21to carry on with the work
00:54:22on the test trommel.
00:54:24That thing is hot,
00:54:25Trevi.
00:54:27Next up,
00:54:28fabricate its main spray bar.
00:54:31This is going to be
00:54:31the end of the trommel right here,
00:54:33right around there.
00:54:34It's going to turn
00:54:35this way to the left.
00:54:37It's going to be
00:54:37a left-handing turn.
00:54:39But what we're going to do
00:54:40is since the material
00:54:40is going to turn to the left,
00:54:41it's going to be
00:54:42piled up right here.
00:54:43That's about where
00:54:43the material is going
00:54:44to start sliding.
00:54:45Actually, right about here.
00:54:46I want this coming out
00:54:47at a 90 right here.
00:54:48That way it can curl over.
00:54:49So reality is
00:54:51the spray bar should be
00:54:52spraying roughly
00:54:53right there.
00:55:01Okay, put some more
00:55:02lube on there, Freddie.
00:55:03Yeah, we'll throw
00:55:04some on here.
00:55:05Where's our soap?
00:55:06After adding the drum's
00:55:07brand-new spray bar,
00:55:09Freddie uses bubble soap
00:55:11to ease the hoses
00:55:12onto the trommel.
00:55:15Good thing your little
00:55:16bubbles work, Freddie.
00:55:17Yep.
00:55:17They're still pretty tight on.
00:55:19Tiny bubbles.
00:55:20Okay, well,
00:55:22let's move this
00:55:22to its new home.
00:55:24Coming up!
00:55:27After 24 hours' work
00:55:29on the test trommel,
00:55:30it's finally ready
00:55:31for the bulk test.
00:55:33Doing good, Alex.
00:55:37Looking good.
00:55:42There's your trommel.
00:55:45Unreal.
00:55:47Wow!
00:55:49Well, thank you very much,
00:55:51you know, I mean,
00:55:51it's...
00:55:52Well, we are here
00:55:53to help you, buddy.
00:55:54Thank you very much.
00:55:54We're here to help you.
00:55:55I really appreciate it.
00:55:56Let's run the bulk test,
00:56:02see what's in it.
00:56:02Okay, we'll do that, Freddie.
00:56:04Fair enough!
00:56:15Freddie's plan?
00:56:15Run 50 buckets of pay
00:56:17through the trommel
00:56:18to get a dollar-per-yard result.
00:56:22First bucket!
00:56:31So far, so good.
00:56:35It's clean.
00:56:35I'm going to turn the water up
00:56:43a little bit more.
00:56:44Okay.
00:56:47Right now,
00:56:48the bulk test is doing pretty good.
00:56:50Between the sluice box,
00:56:51the way it's running,
00:56:52the trommel's doing
00:56:53an excellent job scrubbing
00:56:54and washing the material
00:56:55and the drive system's doing great.
00:56:58So, I couldn't be happier.
00:57:00Hopefully, there's going to be gold
00:57:02in the sluice box when we're done.
00:57:07It's working well enough
00:57:08for us to do a bulk test, right?
00:57:10We got water flying all over the place
00:57:12and it's not ideal,
00:57:14but I need a shower anyway.
00:57:21We got one plant done, Fred.
00:57:23The test plant.
00:57:24One more to go, huh?
00:57:26I don't know who built this plant,
00:57:28but they shouldn't build anything ever again.
00:57:31The design and the concept is pretty good.
00:57:33Just their execution wasn't great.
00:57:35Yeah.
00:57:35I'm going to get back to welding.
00:57:36Okay.
00:57:37See you in a bit.
00:57:41Last bucket!
00:57:43Okay, Fred.
00:57:43Well, let's see what we got, eh?
00:57:55Shut the trommel off, Raul.
00:58:01I'm excited to see what is in there.
00:58:03This is it.
00:58:04This means everything to me.
00:58:05After running a 50-bucket bulk test...
00:58:09One more.
00:58:11Thank you, sir.
00:58:12...Freddy cleans up the mats.
00:58:14So this is roughly five yards of material, Raul?
00:58:26Yes.
00:58:28There's gold in it.
00:58:30That's for sure.
00:58:30So we've got one, two, four, 16, 17.
00:58:40Well, there's well over 20 colors there.
00:58:4321, but there's a few more.
00:58:45Wow.
00:58:45This is the most I've ever seen, you know?
00:58:50I mean, since I've been here.
00:58:51We might not even weigh it.
00:58:52We may just eyeball it.
00:58:54Let's have a look at it.
00:58:58So $20 a yard.
00:59:00Wow.
00:59:01This is amazing.
00:59:03Since I've been in this claim, it's the most gold I've ever seen.
00:59:06It's only five yards from that little piece.
00:59:09Freddy was the one that discovered that.
00:59:11In just one five-yard test, Freddy recovers more than 10% of what Raul has found all season.
00:59:21But I tell you what, if gold was everywhere, it wouldn't be worth much, would it?
00:59:26Well, right now it's $2,300 an ounce, so every one of those specs count.
00:59:30You just got to help catch more of it at the plant.
00:59:33I don't know.
00:59:33I'm very excited.
00:59:34I'm very excited to see gold, eh?
00:59:36There's some material to run right there.
00:59:38$20, $25 a yard.
00:59:40It looks good.
00:59:42I mean, that's pretty good pay.
00:59:45Wano!
00:59:47That's pretty good.
00:59:48Out of five yards, $20-some a yard.
00:59:50That's a hell of a whole lot better than what we saw last time.
00:59:52Three specs.
00:59:53That's a huge improvement, Fred.
00:59:55From not being able to pay the gas bill to start the water pump to actually being able to maybe make some money there.
01:00:01That's exciting, Freddy.
01:00:02I'm actually excited about that.
01:00:04So we're going to go run those old-timer tailings, see if it's worth running.
01:00:08And we'll do a side-by-side comparison.
01:00:10Okay, and see what that does.
01:00:12All right, buddy, see you in a bit.
01:00:12See you in a bit, Wano.
01:00:14Freddy's found some ground, but the pressure's still on.
01:00:17We've still got a lot to do.
01:00:18We still have to install everything and do a test run.
01:00:21So we're out of time.
01:00:23Fix it tough.
01:00:35Archie, go ahead.
01:00:37Go ahead and shut the throttle off.
01:00:39At the parade's mine.
01:00:41Time to have a look at it, huh?
01:00:43To make a comparison, Freddy runs a second bulk test on the old-timer tailings, which surround the pocket of pay.
01:00:51The old-timers didn't have pumps.
01:00:53They didn't have heavy equipment.
01:00:55But you do now.
01:00:57Let's see what gold, if any, lives in this.
01:01:01This is 50 buckets.
01:01:03Yeah.
01:01:03So we're apples to apples.
01:01:07Helen!
01:01:10What are you looking at now?
01:01:12There's not nearly as much black sand in it.
01:01:15It's no good.
01:01:16Black sand is a highly mineralized material and often an indicator of gold.
01:01:22That's a bad thing.
01:01:24See, we got some gold there.
01:01:26Yeah.
01:01:26But not much.
01:01:27How's it looking?
01:01:28Well, you can see the one on the right here, Helen.
01:01:30We're figuring that's right around $20 a yard.
01:01:34Okay.
01:01:35Okay, now here's those old-timer tailings.
01:01:37It's probably got 10% the amount of gold, right?
01:01:40You can run 20.
01:01:41You can make money on 20.
01:01:43Yeah.
01:01:44Two, go broke.
01:01:45The bulk test confirms the old-timer tailings are not worth running.
01:01:51And in order to be profitable, Raul must focus solely on the virgin ground.
01:01:56Do you think there is more?
01:01:58There's more of it in the bank up there, right?
01:02:00Yeah.
01:02:00But it's just hard to get to.
01:02:02Yeah.
01:02:02So what I think we do is get this pond drained.
01:02:05We look at the walls of this pond here, and we'll start there, right?
01:02:09Thank you, Freddie.
01:02:10Yep, let's make some stuff happen.
01:02:12It's a start.
01:02:13To have this glimmer of hope is just super amazing.
01:02:17And hopefully we can start paying our bills and have a forward direction.
01:02:27Raul drains the pond by cutting away the berm wall to see if the pay pocket extends further.
01:02:33I'm very excited that Freddie found us this little piece of ground that, you know, was hiding from us in this corner.
01:02:42I would like to see what is in there and go from there, right?
01:02:46Travis, you want to plug in that other welder and start welding this other box out?
01:03:08Yeah, sounds good.
01:03:09With the ground found and 24 hours to go before the final test run, Juan races to finish fixes for the main plant.
01:03:21So this is the beginning of the V-shoot.
01:03:25You can see the outline of it.
01:03:26The material is going to get funneled into the V-shoot, concentrated in the center so it's even.
01:03:31And then what we're going to do is we're going to have a splitter right here.
01:03:33And then this one will come over to this side, drop into the left-hand sluice box.
01:03:37And this will have a downspout over here for the right-hand sluice box.
01:03:40The reason we're doing this is because right now the way he's running, the box is one's getting a lot of material, one's getting nothing.
01:03:46And so it's not effective at all.
01:03:48The V-shoot will separate material equally to the sluices, allowing them to capture fine gold.
01:04:0114 by 14, right there.
01:04:05Then I need the 47 by 14.
01:04:07That one, perfect.
01:04:10There's a tremendous amount of calculations figuring out where it's going to go, how it's going to sit.
01:04:14We've still got a tremendous amount of work to do.
01:04:16We're only halfway through this.
01:04:17We're going to get this all jigged up, and then we'll finish welding it out.
01:04:21Fortunately, I have Travis here with me, so we're able to get a lot more done with the time we have.
01:04:25But we better get back to it.
01:04:29Thank you, Trav.
01:04:30Hey, Raul.
01:04:39Uno momento, por favor.
01:04:41I'll give you all the time and the work for you, but...
01:04:44Out on the claim, Raul's drained the pond next to the pocket of pay.
01:04:49This is all good pay.
01:05:02All this is good pay.
01:05:04I had a feeling that that pay continued through there, right?
01:05:08Yeah.
01:05:08You can't see through muddy water.
01:05:11Wow.
01:05:11At $20 a yard, Freddy's find could stop Raul and Helen from going broke.
01:05:19It looks like it's going back into this hillside, but it's just hard to get to.
01:05:23Once you get these tailings off the top, somebody made a mess for you up there.
01:05:27Yeah.
01:05:27So it's going to be a bit of work to get to it.
01:05:30Yeah, this is all good pay, Raul.
01:05:34Yep.
01:05:35Like, that's tailings there.
01:05:38You don't want to take any of that.
01:05:40I'd follow it back first, and then I'd plop those tailings out of there.
01:05:45You know, get it all cleaned up this way, away from the hill.
01:05:48That way you can throw those old-timer tailings over the top without worrying about, you know, covering up good pay.
01:05:54That's right.
01:05:55But you can see even here, right?
01:05:56We got pay.
01:05:58Yep.
01:05:59In there.
01:06:00So just look for those shingled rocks.
01:06:03Thank you very much.
01:06:05Old-timer tailings are stacked on top of virgin material, which will need to be dug out with precision so that the pay is not diluted.
01:06:17Start digging some of this material over here and get it stockpiled to run.
01:06:23Dig away.
01:06:24Wow, got good news.
01:06:30Freddie found a really nice spot over there.
01:06:32I'm so excited.
01:06:36It's the first smile I had all day is when I seen that.
01:06:38I got something to look forward in the future, that I can continue my passion for gold mining.
01:06:45At the Parade's mine site, with hours to go, the rescue crew races to complete the final fixes.
01:07:08Basically, we're out of time.
01:07:10Basically, we're out of time.
01:07:12Everything we've had to do here, from prospecting to getting that test trauma going, it's got to be all hands on deck now, because literally our hourglass is damn near to empty.
01:07:23Are we taking out all of the sluices?
01:07:27All of the sluices, he won them out.
01:07:30But he said, I mean, we're just preparing the job for him.
01:07:33So, once we take all these sluices out, it's not going to be an octopus anymore, is it?
01:07:38It's not going to be an octopus.
01:07:39We're going to have to come up with a different name, you guys.
01:07:42That's right, maybe an oyster, because oyster has pears, so they've got value.
01:07:47Okay, let's do it.
01:07:49Let's get at her.
01:07:49Raul's mission?
01:07:52Strip down the old plant in preparation for the new sluice runs and distribution box.
01:08:01Yeah, we don't want to damage any of these beams, because we don't know what Juan's going to be using, right?
01:08:08Yeah.
01:08:08So, let's not damage anything.
01:08:10Okay.
01:08:11I couldn't do what I do without Helen.
01:08:14She's a key in this operation.
01:08:17Without her, I couldn't do it.
01:08:19She's the one that looks after the plan, and we start this adventure together, and hopefully we end up together.
01:08:28And hopefully we can be winners together.
01:08:31Helen, you guys want to move out of there, please?
01:08:33Yeah, I guess just stack them all over here.
01:08:36This way.
01:08:39Yay, there's got one down.
01:08:40Three to go.
01:08:41I got to go more that way, so when I lift it up, I'm not pushing it this way.
01:08:50You got to let me know you're my eyes, buddy.
01:08:52I can't really see from here, okay?
01:08:55Nice and slow, Raul.
01:08:56Watch the chain.
01:08:57All right, let's unhook that chain.
01:09:11Nice job, Raul.
01:09:12Oh, good.
01:09:15Now for the rebuild.
01:09:20Pull on that, Raul.
01:09:21Well, the crew prepares to weld in the V-shoot box into Raul and Helen's plant.
01:09:28Today's going to be a big day.
01:09:29We're completely out of time.
01:09:31Luckily, we have enough help here.
01:09:32Travis and Alex are here to give us a hand.
01:09:34Still got a lot to do, but we're getting closer.
01:09:38The custom-made V-shoot needs to sit tightly under the hupper.
01:09:43Ouch.
01:09:43The only way Freddy can weld it in is from the inside of the five-foot-long box.
01:09:51Dude, this is really going to f***ing suck.
01:09:53I'll be right over here.
01:09:54Huh?
01:09:55I'll be right over here if you need me.
01:09:59Where's that grinder?
01:10:02Alex?
01:10:03Alex?
01:10:05I need you.
01:10:06What's up, buddy?
01:10:07Alex!
01:10:07Yeah?
01:10:08Hand me that grinder, would you?
01:10:12Grinder.
01:10:15I'm going to get fried in here.
01:10:25It's comfy in here.
01:10:30So we'll slide it in through the front here, and then we'll walk it over.
01:10:35All right.
01:10:36Right above Freddy, on the shaker deck, Juan and Travis install the new punch plates.
01:10:43All right, let me a little bit.
01:10:44What we're going to do is we're going to get the punch plate lifted in place.
01:10:47We're going to have to get one side tacked in, and then we'll have to push down the other
01:10:50side so we can get that bow in it and be able to tension the plates.
01:10:54All right, let's get to f***ing work.
01:10:55Push this side down hard.
01:11:00Are we tight?
01:11:01Tight.
01:11:01Hold horse.
01:11:09Thank you, Travis.
01:11:10No problem.
01:11:10So we thought we're going to have to use a bottle jack to add pressure to push the plate
01:11:14down, but after Juan and I stood on it, there was enough weight between the two of us to
01:11:18be able to pin her down, so I called her good enough.
01:11:23Juan and Travis' body weight bush fix is enough to tension and weld the punch plates into place.
01:11:30I guess that means we need to go on a diet.
01:11:36As the material comes down, it can come over, and it's not going too far over where it can't
01:11:46get screened, so that way it'll still hit the holes.
01:11:49It still heals the holes, right?
01:11:51Yeah, it still gets the perforations.
01:11:52Nice.
01:11:52You've done an amazing job here, Juan.
01:11:55Wow.
01:11:56I get pretty emotional.
01:11:57This just means a lot to me.
01:11:59I mean, this is my life.
01:12:01I appreciate that you're giving me the tools that I can go and start all over again.
01:12:07Honestly, it's been a pleasure, you know, and you came to Canada with nothing, you know?
01:12:11You started a mine, and, you know, this is yours, and to me, that's, you know, that's
01:12:17a sign of somebody that's put a lot of effort, a lot of time, and a lot of heart into what
01:12:21they do.
01:12:22You know, not everybody does that, so I totally understand that, you know, the story, because
01:12:29my family's done it as well, and, you know, they gave me the opportunities to be the person
01:12:34I am now.
01:12:35It's our pleasure.
01:12:35Muchas gracias, Don Juan.
01:12:36No te preocupes.
01:12:37Lo bendiga, Señor.
01:12:39Y para ver a alguien que ha sacrificado tanto para estar aquÃ, para tratar de tener una mejor
01:12:47vida, es un placer para nosotros para ayudarte.
01:12:51Muchas gracias, Don Juan.
01:12:52Dios lo bendiga, Señor.
01:12:53Igualmente.
01:12:54Gracias, Don Juan.
01:12:56Pues hay que ponernos las pilas, ¿no?
01:12:59Para terminar esto.
01:13:00SÃ, pues.
01:13:00SÃ, pues, Don Juan.
01:13:01Hey, Alex.
01:13:07Yes, sir.
01:13:07Can you hand me my stinger?
01:13:09I have no idea where.
01:13:11I think you're laying on it, buddy.
01:13:13Yeah.
01:13:13I can't throw my own head around in here.
01:13:17Beneath Juan and Raul, Freddy finishes welding in the five-foot V-shoot.
01:13:22I'm not like Freddy.
01:13:26Freddy can fit into tight places.
01:13:29Um, I don't think I could have done that when I was five.
01:13:33Hot in here.
01:13:35Oh, I bet.
01:13:38It was already 100 degrees in here before I started welding on this plate.
01:13:43Now the plate's a couple hundred degrees.
01:13:46How long was I in that thing?
01:13:47Uh, you were in there for a solid hour.
01:13:50Well, I was a tight fit in there.
01:13:52That's for sure.
01:13:53And hot.
01:13:54And, you know, without something on the back of your hood, you get the reflection off the
01:13:58steel that goes in there and it flash burns your eyes.
01:14:00I can feel it right now.
01:14:01They're, like, itchy.
01:14:04So, wasn't any fun, but at the same time, it had to be done.
01:14:12Good.
01:14:13You're doing good.
01:14:14Keep coming.
01:14:15The last step of the wash plant fix.
01:14:17A little more.
01:14:18Install the 10-foot sluices.
01:14:20Perfect.
01:14:22Here you go, buddy.
01:14:27It was a tremendous, uh, undertaking, and I honestly didn't think we were going to get
01:14:31it all done.
01:14:32I'm hoping that this plant is going to work properly and we do the final test run because
01:14:36Raul and Helen, they've put a lot of trust and confidence in us.
01:14:40There you go.
01:14:40And, you know, we want to deliver.
01:14:44You gotten a little bit of, uh, time with your drone, Fred?
01:14:50Not much.
01:14:51Crashed a couple times.
01:14:54One mile from Helen and Raul's claim is the bullion pit mine, which was hydraulicked in
01:15:00the 1870s using huge water cannons.
01:15:03Well, one time at home, I, uh, piled up a drone into a pile of black sand from cleanups.
01:15:09Really?
01:15:09It got in the motors and everything just completely destroyed it.
01:15:12What drone is this, number four or five?
01:15:14Six.
01:15:20Thanks, Freddy.
01:15:21You've gotten better.
01:15:22No, I haven't.
01:15:22Went through the widespread trees instead of the narrow ones.
01:15:25You didn't want to go to the narrow gap, huh?
01:15:26If there was only one tree, I could find a way to hit it.
01:15:30How's that looking?
01:15:31Oh, wow.
01:15:31It's definitely bigger than it looks from the ground here, huh?
01:15:33Yeah, it's a lot bigger than what it looks like.
01:15:35I think I read they mined out about 22 million tons of gravel.
01:15:38Yeah, that's quite a bit.
01:15:40There's a lot of material there.
01:15:41Well, like you said, Freddy, you know, there's a reason they mined all that material.
01:15:44Yeah.
01:15:44It must have been pretty decent gold.
01:15:45You ready, guys?
01:15:56Let's fire it up and run.
01:15:58Let's do it.
01:15:58Start the pump, thanks.
01:16:00Starting the pump.
01:16:02At the Paredes mine, with the pump cap and large wash plant fixed and new pay found, Raul,
01:16:10Helen, and David start the second test.
01:16:15Hey, hey!
01:16:17No more agua.
01:16:19We're good.
01:16:20I'm very excited.
01:16:21This is my day.
01:16:23I've been waiting for this for a long, long time.
01:16:28How's it look?
01:16:30Looks really good in here, Fred.
01:16:32Yeah.
01:16:37First bucket.
01:16:39There you go.
01:16:40Started the timer.
01:16:40The stockpiled pocket of pay will keep the plant running for an hour.
01:16:48Enough time for Freddy and Juan to assess their fixes on the big plant.
01:16:52The difference is amazing.
01:16:57Now it's even.
01:16:59It's running beautifully.
01:17:03Looks good.
01:17:05The plant before, there would be no way I could even hear you.
01:17:08But now the plant's actually running pretty decent.
01:17:11So far, the material coming off the end looks really clean, so I couldn't be happier.
01:17:15The new fitted punch plates screen out the worthless rock.
01:17:24Well, the V-shoot looks good.
01:17:26The sluice looks good.
01:17:27The punch plates.
01:17:32Juan's custom-made steel V-shoot separates material evenly, allowing gold-rich pay to settle in the riffles.
01:17:41Much better.
01:17:44Yeah, that's good.
01:17:50Hopefully things can change.
01:17:52For the better.
01:17:54Be able to pay the people that I own money.
01:17:59Pay my bills.
01:18:01And doing what I love to do.
01:18:03Be everything to me.
01:18:04Will mean everything to the whole world, right?
01:18:06Yes.
01:18:11I can see tailings in that pay they're feeding into the plant.
01:18:15That's not good.
01:18:16That's really going to water it down.
01:18:18Freddie has identified old-timer tailings mixed in with the virgin pay, lowering the value of the material.
01:18:27Last bucket, Raul.
01:18:36Part of it was tailings.
01:18:39We diluted it a little bit, huh?
01:18:40No.
01:18:41We probably lost quite a bit of gold.
01:18:44Probably 50% of it.
01:18:45Yeah, I would imagine that.
01:18:49Let's clean it up.
01:18:50Yeah.
01:18:50Let's do it.
01:19:09Hello, guys.
01:19:09Moment of truth, guys.
01:19:11How are we doing?
01:19:12How does that look?
01:19:12Good, good.
01:19:13Well, we got gold there.
01:19:15Weighable amount.
01:19:16Yeah.
01:19:16But there's some issues we wanted to talk to you about.
01:19:20There was a lot of tailings.
01:19:20A lot of tailings in it.
01:19:21Let's say our pay was diluted 50%.
01:19:24Mm-hmm.
01:19:24So when you start, you know, following that channel, you need to make sure that you just take the pay layer.
01:19:29And you've seen what we did with that test trommel, right?
01:19:32Yeah.
01:19:32We got a gram of gold out of that, out of five yards.
01:19:35Yeah, it's going to be a huge improvement.
01:19:36When you actually get in there and actually run straight pay, you're going to see a night and day difference.
01:19:41You ready?
01:19:42Yeah.
01:19:43Yes, we're ready.
01:19:44There goes nothing.
01:19:45Excited.
01:19:46The first test run produced just 50 cents worth of gold.
01:19:580.03.
01:20:020.03, guys.
01:20:04After an hour running 30 yards of dirt, Raul and Helen make almost $70 worth of gold.
01:20:11You know, 0.03 out of one hour run, it's gold.
01:20:15It's here.
01:20:16Honestly, I see hope there.
01:20:17It's a heck of an improvement from the first gold weight.
01:20:19Yeah, we're happy.
01:20:21Now you know you have some decent ground on the property to run.
01:20:24Stay in that pay channel.
01:20:26Yeah, stay in those shingled rocks.
01:20:28But there should be enough material here to get your pockets lined with a little bit of money.
01:20:33But in the future, you're going to have to find more ground.
01:20:35And then two, now you have a proper test plant that you can take anywhere to do testing.
01:20:40And your wash plant is working amazingly.
01:20:43It's running really well.
01:20:44It's going to pay off.
01:20:45You know, you're in a spot where you can make some money.
01:20:48200% improvement.
01:20:49Oh, yeah.
01:20:50Somebody was.
01:20:522,000%.
01:20:53Yeah, 2,000.
01:20:54Well, thank you very much, you guys.
01:20:56Give us hope.
01:20:57I mean, if it wasn't for you guys.
01:20:59We wouldn't be here.
01:21:01We wouldn't be here.
01:21:02You're very welcome.
01:21:02You guys changed our life.
01:21:04It's no longer the battle that it was.
01:21:07We're off and running.
01:21:08Well, guys, we've got another mine to go to, so it's been an absolute pleasure.
01:21:13Yeah, thank you.
01:21:14I'm proud of what we did here.
01:21:16Even if Raul and Helen don't stay on this property or they mine it out, they've got the tools and the knowledge to go somewhere else and have a lot better start than they've had here.
01:21:25The hope that Freddy and Juan has given us priceless.
01:21:34I'm on my way.
01:21:35I'm feeling really awesome right now.
01:21:38For the future of our mining, this is going to be really exciting.
01:21:41Please let us know how you get on.
01:21:43Definitely.
01:21:43Yeah, do.
01:21:44Freddy and Juan, I love you.
01:21:46And we can't thank you enough.
01:21:49You've changed our world.
01:21:51Honestly, I feel that these fixes and what we've done here for them, it's going to be life-changing.
01:21:59You know, I'm happy that we had the opportunity to come out here and help them.
01:22:01It's great to meet people that need the help and that when they receive the help, they're truly appreciative and they definitely are that.
01:22:08After Freddy and Juan left, we found it was going to be way too difficult for us to get to the dirt with the current equipment that we have.
01:22:26So we decided to move on to find better grounds.
01:22:29If we run a day on this page, and this is being conservative, we should be just over the $3,000 mark a day.
01:22:56Pretty phenomenal.
01:22:59Freddy and Juan have really breathed so much new life into the future of our gold mining.
01:23:06And we're so excited for next year to get started and see what's in that ground.
01:23:12Bills are going to get paid.
01:23:14We'll be able to make some money as an income.
01:23:17I did everything as they told me, and it was good.
01:23:21It was good.
01:23:22I'm happy.
01:23:23I'm counting the days for next year.
01:23:26Bills are going to get started and see what's in the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future of the future
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