Audible Review
THE MERGER
The mining crews are 106 days into the 150 day mining season, and up at Quartz Creek in the Klondike, the mine site is at a stand still, since Todd Hoffman shut down his trommel. Todd calls an emergency meeting of both the Indian River and Quartz Creek crew. He breaks the news to the entire Hoffman crew, that he's going to shut down Quartz Creek for good, Todd also states that the failure could be blamed on this and that, but in the end it's his fault that Quartz Creek didn't pay off. Quartz Creek has only produced 7 ounces of gold worth about $11,000, meanwhile over at Indian River, Dave Turin has pulled 223 ounces worth over $350,000. Disappointed in Todd's performance at Quartz, their investor Jason threatened to pull the plug unless Todd cut costs. Todd Hoffman states that they all have to work together under one plan, that being Indian River, he also says that if they have to get from 500 to 1000 ounces out Indian River, they have to open up alot more ground, and for that they need every single crew member. Dave Turin says that this could just make everything collapse around them, but also believes that they can pull it off. Todd states that if they don't get their goal, they're not going to come back, if would simply be the end for them. Nobody is ready to go home just yet, so they're all pumped up to go, they all believe that if they stick together they can pull it off. Todd says that he's done the math, and that it is possible to get to 1000 ounces, he wants to get to 1000 ounces. With two excavators, two rock trucks and a dozer, Todd's crew makes the two mile journey from Quartz Creek to Indian River. They now have double the manpower and machines, the once rival crews have to put aside their differences and work together on the common goal of 1000 ounces.
In Southeast Alaska, at Porcupine Creek, the Dakota Boys are digging the grey material out of the glory hole, river washed rocks are a sign that they're on the gold. After a season of breakdowns, last week Fred finally brought in new equipment, and right away they saw results in the form of a $20,000 cleanup. With the plant processing their best dirt yet, they're certain that the next cleanup will be really great. Larger sized rocks have begun to show out of the dirt and Fred wants them run through their D-Rocker washplant, Dustin is a little bit concerned that the D-Rocker can't handle these huge rocks. As Dustin drops the huge rock into the D-Rocker, is completely rips off the deck on the machine, pushing it through the washplant, landing on the ground at the end, exposing the wheels beneath, they quickly shut down the machine to inspect the damage done. The D-Rocker washes the rocks on a moving deck, rocking the dirt back and forth by three pairs of truck wheels, a series of welds holds the top of the deck in place, the massive boulder has snapped the welds, causing the 10,000 pound deck to crash to the ground. It's a disaster since when the machines are down they can't run.
Across the creek, at the Big Nugget Mine, Parker Schnabel is waiting for the results of a 4 day run of Emerson Trench dirt. Parker has run 2,000 yards of dirt to find out weather Emerson Trench will pay off, Parker needs 5 ounces of gold, just to cover his $8,000 four day running costs. The cleanup is disappointing, it's only 2.3 ounces, half of what he needed to cover his costs, Parker leaves the room immediately after learning the result. Parker's worst fears has come true, Emerson Trench is a bust. Parker states that they really need to find some better dirt, since their running costs a day is at $2,000 and that they need 190 ounces just to break even for the season. He turns to Gary a six year Big Nugget veteran for advice, asking him weather he knowns of any easily accessible ground. Gary does know of a claim, known as the Discovery claim, but it isn't easily accessible, he suggests that Parker should try to work out a lease deal. The Discovery claim is two miles up a hill from Big Nugget, back in 1898, miners using a basic wooden sluice box produced around 100 ounces a day from the claim, which at todays prices are worth around $160,000. Parker heads up the hill to check out the claim, and notices river gravels right of the batch as he arrives. Parker heads up to the claim owner by himself, without the cameras, since the claim owner doesn't want to be a part of it.
Up north in the Klondike, Todd Hoffman has shut down Quartz Creek, and they're joining forces with Dave Turin's crew at Indian River. Dave points out that the sluice box should not shut down, it has to run at all times, he needs truck drivers, and dozer operators, which he knows that the crew from Quartz can. All season "Big Red" has lead the way in gold recovery of the Hoffman Crew, it's been chewing through a total of 38,000 yards of pay dirt from their first cut, last week Dave raced to open up the cut on the upper bench, as cut number were about to run out of pay dirt, he indeed managed to open up the upper bench cut, right as cut one ran out of pay dirt. Now to keep their dream of 1000 ounces alive, the combined crew has to open up twice the ground and run double the amount of pay dirt through the washplant. With the washplant eating through 140 yards an hour, Andy, Mitch and Walt get busy ripping and stripping new ground. Suddenly, the feed con weigher grinds to a halt, forcing them to shut down the entire washplant. Dave suspects they've blown a seal in the hydraulic pump, which makes the belt go. Untill they can get a replacement part, the entire Hoffman operation is shut down.
Back at the Big Nugget Mine, Parker is out of ground, but he has persuaded the owner of the neighboring Discovery claim, to lease him some promising land. Parker has signed a contract with the claim owner, which gets him 10 acres for a 10% fee. He thinks bedrock is close, and he believes that the pay dirt is good, 50 yards back. Getting the pay dirt is not a problem, but getting it to the plant is, Parker is concerned about the road going down, the width of the road is only leaving a feet extra for the dumb truck. With Big Nugget dead in the water, Parker has no choice but to test the dirt road in a dumb truck, to see if it's possible. If Parker makes a mistake, it could cause the massive rock truck to fall 100's of feet down to the river below, there's no room for error. The rock truck can't make a tight turn up the road, for Parker to make serious money of the Discovery claim he'd have to do 100's of loads down the road, which obviously is too dangerous.
At Porcupine Creek, less than a mile from Big Nugget. Dakota Fred and his team have suffered another major breakdown. A massive boulder has broken off the deck on the D-Rocker washplant. Fred plans to lift the 10,000 pound deck above the D-Rocker with the 340 excavator, while Melody pulls the other end of it in the loader, once in place Fred will attempt the weld the top back on. Dustin hooks up the loader to the end of the deck, and moves clear of the machines, where he can guide both Fred and Melody. Dustin, slow and steadily guides Melody in pulling back the deck, while Fred holds it up in the air, they successfully managed to get the deck back into the right position on the D-Rocker for Fred to weld in back into place. They turn the machine back on and it seems to work just fine, but the only way to test the fix, is to hit it with more boulders, to test weather it can take the hits. It can take the hits, and they've managed to fix the machine in the same day as it broke.
Back up at Indian River, the washplant is still not running, since the seal in the hydraulic pump has blown out, which stopped the feed con weigher from moving. Mitch has already ordered a new part for it, but it's anywhere from 3 days to 3 weeks out, and that they can't wait for, Mitch though has an idea which might work. He plans to use the hydraulic system from Jack's beloved 400 excavator, Jack's had the excavator since their first mining season, it's his pride and joy. Mitch plans to connect the hydraulic hoses from the 400 to the washplant, he drives the excavator from Quartz Creek over to Indian River, placing it beside the washplant. He then connects the hoses to the washplant, but for it to work he has to get the hydraulic pressure just right, the washplant uses 2000 pounds per square inch, but the excavator is capable of up to 3200 pounds per square inch, if the washplant gets too much pressure, it could blow the system on the feeder, setting them back weeks. Mitch slowly fine tunes the pressure to just get the right amount, and eventually he gets the feed con weigher to run smoothly again. Indian River is running good pay dirt once again, Mitch's ingenuity has kept their dream of 1000 ounces alive.
Back down at the Big Nugget Mine, in Southeast Alaska. Parker has called in his father Roger, to help widen the road up to his new Discovery claim. Before they can start widening the old dirt road, they have to chop down some sixty foot trees. Roger gets to work on chopping down the trees, but he has some concern about some of them being rotten within, that might make them fall differently from what he wants. After chopping down the necessary amount of trees, Parker can finally get to digging into the mountain side, to widen the dirt road up to the Discovery claim. Parker makes it to the top, widening the entire stretch up there, he then heads on down to Big Nugget once again, to try to go up the road in a rock truck, testing weather he can get up there as the road is now more wide than before. Parker reaches the tight corner that stopped him in his first attempt in the rock truck, it's wider now but still sketchy, if his back tires slips it's a 300 foot drop down to Porcupine Creek. Parker manages to get around the corner and finally reaches the top in his rock truck, he finally has access to good quality pay dirt. Parker believes that this pay dirt will push them over their break even point, which is 190 ounces of gold.
Back up at Indian River, Jack has found out that his 400 excavator which is his pride and joy, are missing from Quartz Creek, he eventually finds it at Indian River, where he discovers it besides the washplant. Mitch explains the situation to Jack.
Back down at Porcupine Creek in Alaska, the Dakota Boys and Melody has now run the rich grey material for about 25 hours, they start a full cleanup of the sluice boxes. As they clean the bottom sluice box, Fred and Dustin discover decent sized flakes at the end, which never should make it down there, suggesting that they might blow gold right out the end of their sluice box. Riffles are designed to trap the gold as it washes down the sluice box, but since the grey material is so fine, it has filled up the riffles, which hardens like concrete, the gold then just washes over the riffles and Fred and Dustin may have lost thousand of dollars in gold out of the end of their sluice box. Fred's running costs for the season are $150,000 or 93 ounces of gold, he only have 75 ounces so far, Fred needs a massive 18 ounces from this cleanup to break even for the season. Fred weighs the gold by himself inside the cabin, and heads outside to break the cleanup total to Dustin and Melody, they've pulled 28.4 ounces of gold out of the ground in just 25 hours, the cleanup total is also their biggest one yet. Fred has covered his costs for the season, and confidently rings the bell on the cabin, which signals that they've reached 100 ounces, they now have 104 ounces of gold for the season, which is worth $166,400. The rest of the gold they get, is profit straight into their own pockets.
Back up in the Klondike at the Indian River gold claim, the crew lost two days of sluicing due to the breakdown of the feed con weigher, but due to Mitch's ingenious fix, they've still managed to run 4,000 yards of pay dirt through the washplant this week. It's time for their first cleanout, since Todd combined the Quartz Creek and Indian River crews. Everybody from the team is hoping for a good cleanup. They finish up and Jack weighs the gold by himself, and returns to break the cleanup total to the entire Hoffman crew, Jack is presently surprised. In one week, even with a major breakdown, Todd and Dave has pulled 46 ounces worth $73,600 out of the ground at Indian River together. The Hoffman crew gold tally is now at total of 276 ounces worth over $440,000.
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