Aussie Gold Hunters S09E13 (2024)
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TVTranscript
00:00Where are we going, bud?
00:03I think it's level one, mate.
00:04We've got to go there.
00:05Level one.
00:06Yep.
00:07Hey, Nev.
00:08Hey.
00:09What are you two doing here?
00:10Just wanted to come and see you, mate.
00:11Heard that you're going to have an operation maybe today, tomorrow, or whenever.
00:12Yeah, mate.
00:13How you doing?
00:14Hello, buddy.
00:15How are you?
00:16Hey, mate.
00:17Hey.
00:18How are you, bud?
00:19I'm going all right.
00:20Going all right?
00:21Looks like it.
00:22Yeah.
00:23Just let me get dressed.
00:24Jeez, I've lost some weight, haven't I?
00:26I have, mate.
00:27Yeah.
00:28Yeah.
00:29In the last week, I've lost over 10 kilos.
00:30You're kidding.
00:31No, but that's cancer, mate.
00:32So I've been in and had some more scans.
00:33Yeah.
00:34And there's a lot more spread of cancer on the liver.
00:35Yeah.
00:36Maybe another six months, they'll give me.
00:37But get past this one first.
00:38I've got a, I've got a...
00:39I've got a little bit, a bit of a cold.
00:40I've got a cold.
00:41I've got a, I've got a lot of fever.
00:42I've got fever.
00:43I've got a fever.
00:44I've got a fever.
00:45I've got a fever.
00:46I've got a fever.
00:47I've got fever.
00:48I've got a fever.
00:49I've got a fever.
00:50forgive me. But, you know, get past this one first. I've got a blot. The family's fairly
00:59upset because we don't know how it'll go. There's a high risk of me heart stopping on
01:06the table. If that happens, I'm not being resuscitated.
01:12It'll be all right. I'll be back out there with yous digging gold.
01:19Well, I'm hoping. Well, on that point, mate, this is what you helped land us on, mate.
01:2627 and a half, mate. That's a ripper bit.
01:30And that was thanks to you, mate. Geez, I would have loved to have been there
01:35seeing you get that out. Isn't that a ripper, mate?
01:38This is Nevi's nugget. Nevi's nugget. It'll brighten my heart if
01:41you get out there and find one of those big ones on Kato's. It really will.
01:46All right, we love you. We'll see you after your operation, OK?
01:49No worries, Brenty. All right, let's go, eh?
01:52Good on you, eh, buddy? Yeah, nah, I'll see yous. I'll see yous.
01:58We love you, all right? We'll see you on the other side.
01:59Well, hopefully, I'll see you in a few days. Will do. Let's go digging.
02:06You'll be all right, buddy.
02:16I'm excited to get in this excavator. Apparently, it's all fixed and ready to go.
02:25It was basically the engine management control unit, so it's going to cost me about 10 or
02:3112 grand, I believe the bill's going to be. Yeah, all right, mate. Let's get going then.
02:37Looks like the Victorian weather's turned it on for us again, eh?
02:43It's always beautiful here, mate. Nice and wet, I can see.
02:46Let's go look and check this hole out and see what we've got to do, mate.
02:48Yeah, jeez.
02:49Every time we leave and come back, it's always full.
02:51I know. It just doesn't seem to stop raining.
02:54Oh, mate.
02:57I've set a target of 1,000 ounces, and it is high, but you have to have the belief that
03:01you are going to find it. You're talking nearly $3 million worth of gold. But never has given
03:06me the confidence that I need to go for it.
03:10So you've found thousands of ounces up here?
03:13This area could blow your target out of the water.
03:17Keen to pass on his prospecting knowledge, Victorian mining legend Neville Perry led
03:23Brent Shannon and Ethan West to a secret spot.
03:28Look at that. That's a good bit of gold.
03:31Everything all right, mate?
03:32Bad news on all fronts, mate.
03:35A grim test result sent Neville back to hospital for cancer treatment.
03:40Look at that.
03:42But Brent and Ethan pulled in their biggest haul of nuggets for the season.
03:46This one's for you, Neville. Mate, you're all right.
03:55Beauty. We're running. So I'm eager to get digging again.
04:02You know, we haven't been here for about a month, so now we've just got to bail out this
04:09hole so we can get digging without it flooding straight away.
04:14Yeah, this season's been an emotional roller coaster for me. Neville's back in hospital.
04:21He's such a great person. He's got such loving, soulful eyes. You can see into his soul, and
04:29it's just full of brightness.
04:37It's just tough.
04:43You're watching someone fight a battle that's a losing battle. He's not going to win it,
04:48but he fights it every day with so much strength, so much courage, so much happiness.
04:54Yeah, I've probably got another maybe few truckloads to go, mate. We're getting there.
04:58Nearly done, though.
05:00Easy number.
05:04What the...
05:10Hey, Ethan, this excavator's just shut down, mate.
05:13You for real, mate?
05:14Gone dead again. I can't believe it. Let's see if it's blowing this fuse again.
05:24The fuse is good. It's not blowing. Turn the isolator off.
05:29Just jump out my cab, mate, and just see if it hit the key.
05:34Try that, mate. Just see if after moving those fuses and turning...
05:37Anything?
05:39Nothing, mate.
05:44I can't believe it. I can't think straight, to be honest.
05:47Yeah, things get to you, mate. Just give me a moment to think.
05:54Oh...
06:07Tell me everything.
06:09This could be our big opportunity to get into a mining lease.
06:13Well, so what do you say?
06:16Well, he's given us a week to make a decision on this lease
06:20before he puts it on the market officially.
06:22Yeah.
06:23He's asking 500 grand.
06:25500 grand?
06:27I know it's a lot of money, but if it's got gold, then it could be well worth it.
06:31And it needs someone now to get in there with some big machinery,
06:34make a big commitment.
06:36Let's get out there and see if it's going to be worth the investment.
06:39But there's one condition.
06:41What is it?
06:42If we go ahead and pull the lease on, the gold that we get this week,
06:45we get to keep.
06:47Yeah. Fair enough.
06:48If we decide not to pull the lease on, we have to give the gold back.
06:54Are you serious?
06:56But it could pay dividends.
07:01We had a chopper go down this year, recently.
07:03So insurance money is due to come through any day now.
07:06Now it's just a matter of making the decision
07:08whether we reinvest that money back into the company,
07:10back into the helicopters,
07:12or we take a new road and get into the mining.
07:15It's a massive decision.
07:17It could be the week our lives change forever.
07:21Canava traffic, Canada departing Cessna Helicopter Hotel,
07:24Echo Delta at the southern apron,
07:26we're coming airborne parallel runway 22.
07:29Imagine us on our little mining lease, stress-free.
07:34I don't want to be risking my life every day for a handful of cows
07:39when we could be out here kicking back, digging for your gold nuggets.
07:44Are you coming there, Chloe?
07:45Yes, copy.
07:46Oh, big boy's doing a lot of...
07:48I'll see if I can turn him back towards you.
07:50Justin musters cattle across the vast outback stations
07:54of Western Australia.
07:55Mustering by air is one of the most high-risk jobs on the planet.
08:00Chloe!
08:01I just got a message from the office
08:02saying one of the guys have crashed.
08:05Dude.
08:06It's devastating.
08:08For them not to be killed in something like this is...
08:11It's just sheer luck.
08:12Out of the wreckage, a silver lining.
08:15The funds from the insurance payout
08:17could pay for Justin and Chloe's dream of buying their own mining lease.
08:29I think I can see that lease coming up, actually.
08:31That one big area of quartz really stands out quite well.
08:35It is, actually.
08:36It's really just the only piece of quartz there in this whole area.
08:41Look at it. It's such a difference in colours.
08:46All right. Let's get into it.
08:49Into the gold.
08:50Into the gold.
08:52I reckon if you take that western side there,
08:56where that mill is, that windmill,
08:58and just work between this quartz ridge to the north,
09:01keep that windmill to the west,
09:03I'm going to take the eastern end of the block
09:05and see what I come up with out that side.
09:08I don't really like it when I can't see the chopper, though.
09:11That's all right. You've got plenty of reference points.
09:13Let's maximise our time here.
09:15So if we meet back at 3, that'll give us 4 hours on the ground.
09:18Let's find out if we're going to spend the next 10 years on this lease.
09:25This is a pretty big lease, actually.
09:27It's 5, 6 acres that we're looking at.
09:29We need to see some significant gold before we pull the trigger on it.
09:33We want to be pulling out 6 or 7 ounces, I'd say.
09:36Grant's found quite a fair bit of alluvial gold here,
09:39so that's gold in nugget form.
09:41But also he tells me there's a pretty good reef
09:44that lies below this quartz outcrop here,
09:46so if we can find some reefy gold, some specimen gold,
09:49then we'll know that we're hitting that reef.
09:56Gold prospecting is what I want to do full-time.
09:59Being a police officer has definitely made me tougher over the years,
10:04but now I just want to leave all that conditioning,
10:07you know, that training behind me
10:10and just get back to my soft self, to who I was before.
10:16Finding gold, just spending time at bush, sweating me bum off.
10:21It's just a dream, isn't it?
10:29This one really walked to her end.
10:34It's tough out here.
10:36It's really hot, there's not lots of shade,
10:39and there's not lots of water either.
10:41And see, that gets me a little worried, actually,
10:44because the reality is people actually die out here.
10:53Ooh, I've got a good signal there.
10:57Ooh, that sounds good.
11:00Oh, my God, I can see it.
11:08Oh, my God, it looks like a bird.
11:11That is huge.
11:13It's beautiful as well.
11:15Look at that.
11:17Maybe we are staying for ten years.
11:20I just made my day already,
11:22so I don't care so much about the flies.
11:26I just want to keep going.
11:29All right-o, so we've got a bit of a signal coming from there.
11:33Oop, must be in that rock there, look.
11:37Say it's in that when I kicked it.
11:39Yeah, there it is there, look.
11:41So this white rock we're looking at, it's quartz.
11:44It's been penetrated by iron, stone, other minerals,
11:49all the right ingredients for gold to exist within that rock.
11:53Next step is to get that back home,
11:55crush it, pan it out and see how much is in there.
11:58Fingers crossed we find a few more.
12:01Oh, my God, it's already 2 o'clock.
12:04So...
12:09I can't see anything. I can't see my windmill.
12:12The ridge, what's it?
12:14Justin's got towards the ridge.
12:18The windmill, it should be the windmill here.
12:22Well, now we're lost. I reckon we just called Justin, don't we?
12:29Putting my radio on here? Oh, man.
12:37I didn't touch it.
12:40Oh, my gosh.
12:43I didn't touch it.
12:46Oh, my gosh.
13:01So the plan for today is I'm going to do a bit of a treasure hunt.
13:05Treasure hunt?
13:07Yeah, so I found some old reports.
13:11Yeah.
13:12From, like, the 70s when they were doing soil testing out this way.
13:16It was a lot of internet sleuthing,
13:19but they say that there's an anomaly out on this block.
13:23Out here at Deadhorse.
13:25Out here at Deadhorse, yep.
13:27If we can find a spot that's a lot closer to the wetland,
13:30we're not costing us as much transport and dirt
13:33and we actually make a bit more money on the deal.
13:36Could be around that quartzy-looking spot over there.
13:39Let's line it up with your pieces of paper.
13:44We're actually on a gold anomaly right here.
13:47This is an old creek
13:49and it heads over towards that quartz blow over there
13:52and it's very close to the wash plant.
13:55So I think we bring the excavator over.
13:58I like it.
13:59Do a little bit of costaining and we'll see if we get a bit of gold out.
14:04Last week, the Brumbies transported dirt from their Chicago lease
14:09to their wash plant,
14:10but the eight-kilometre round trip took its toll.
14:16Watch the truck! Watch the truck!
14:20And Brett narrowly escaped injury.
14:22It's not just the cost of the tyres,
14:25it's the cost of not getting your goals achieved for your day.
14:30The risks of hauling pay dirt
14:32forced Brett and Kat back to their Deadhorse lease.
14:35Yep, perfect.
14:36I'm just going to put the first bucket in now, OK, my love?
14:39OK.
14:41Their new plan is to pinpoint
14:43the highest concentration of gold at Deadhorse.
14:51Whoop!
14:54Missed it.
14:55Do you want me to come back a bit?
14:57No, I think I'm all right.
14:58I'm just trying to work out the ups and downs of sideways
15:01and stuff like that.
15:02I think I'm good now.
15:03Not saying that you're making me nervous,
15:05but you're making me nervous.
15:0710-4, rubber ducky.
15:10Kat is a gold mining rookie,
15:12previously working behind a desk.
15:16Losing my job at the shire meant that we lost the house.
15:20We moved into a ghost town to a house
15:23that was very questionable to start off with.
15:26We still need to find a lot of gold to renovate this house.
15:30You know, we're halfway through our season.
15:33We're only, like, six and a half ounces.
15:36I'm just hoping to find enough gold
15:38so we get our inside toilet and a claw hoofer.
15:47She's actually doing pretty good.
15:49You know, she's gone from an office
15:51and using a computer to driving excavators
15:55and all kinds of stuff,
15:57and so I'm totally proud of Kat.
16:02I reckon that's full, Kat.
16:04Jump in with me and we get this across to the wash plant.
16:07This patch was originally found by a larger mining company
16:12and they just weren't interested in digging it out.
16:16This is how we make our dollars
16:19on the stuff that others have left behind.
16:26BEEP
16:32All right, let's see what this treasure map finds us.
16:47Between the dirt and the flies, it's a pretty tough life out here.
16:52But I wouldn't have it any other way.
17:03It's a weird noise.
17:22All right, what's the matter?
17:24I don't know what's happened.
17:25It was making a clunk, clunk, clunk noise
17:28and I've checked the petrol.
17:34Oh, we're full of rocks.
17:37If those rocks have snapped the chain in under there,
17:40that's it, game over.
17:43Bugger.
17:53Oh, no, we lost.
17:55Well, I feel like we just need to start walking
17:58cos I need my radio.
18:01I think we came from here.
18:04Everything looks the same.
18:06Do you think I can call out, he'll hear me?
18:10Justin!
18:17Yeah, I don't know what to do, to be honest.
18:20Yeah, I don't know what to do, to be honest.
18:28Hey, on channel there, Chloe?
18:34Copy, Chloe. Hello.
18:40That's not a good sign, anyway.
18:43Yeah, these radios, they haven't got a huge range,
18:46but she wouldn't be that...
18:48She shouldn't be that far out of range
18:50if we couldn't talk to each other on these.
18:52But I'll just give her another try.
18:55Copy there, Chloe? Copy, Chloe.
19:04Yeah, well, it's 3.30 now,
19:06so half hour past her designated time.
19:09We'll probably just jump up in the helicopter
19:11and see if we can get her on the radio.
19:19Hey there, Chloe, can you hear me?
19:21Receiving, Chloe.
19:23She's normally pretty good at being back at camp
19:25at her designated time.
19:27She knows how important that is.
19:29Something's gone wrong, obviously.
19:3141 degrees here at the moment,
19:33so she'll be getting hot, she'll be getting dehydrated,
19:36and we want to make sure we get her back to camp.
19:39Hey, copy there, Chloe? Copy, Chloe. Hello.
19:43Oh, dear.
19:47God, where could she be?
19:55Is that her way out there?
19:57Bloody hell.
19:59I don't know. I've got her spotted there now.
20:02At least she looks all right.
20:04She's waving at me.
20:06Justin!
20:09Oh, my God, such a relief.
20:19Oh, my God, baby!
20:21Oh!
20:23You all right?
20:26I got lost.
20:28I figured that out when you went where you were meant to be.
20:32Want a drink? Yeah.
20:34Yeah.
20:37Where's your radio?
20:39I've been trying to call you for ages.
20:41I lost it. Yeah?
20:43I've never been tool-surfing my whole life.
20:46You're lucky.
20:50It just goes to show how careful you've got to be out in the bush, hun,
20:53especially coming into summertime when the days are so hot.
20:56The only positive about that whole ordeal,
21:00I found some gold.
21:05Now it's raining.
21:07The excavator's stopped again.
21:09Just got it fixed.
21:11Well, we thought we did.
21:13Nevvy's in hospital and we don't know what's happening there.
21:16It sort of gets you down a little bit.
21:20Without this machine,
21:22we're down again.
21:25Yeah, how are you?
21:27I'm fine.
21:29I'm fine.
21:31Again.
21:33Yeah, how are you?
21:35Yeah, no, not too bad, mate.
21:37Except for this excavator.
21:39Seems to be the same problem.
21:41Brent's on the phone right now and giving Adam a call.
21:43All right, we'll try that.
21:45If that don't work, I'll ring you back.
21:47Yeah, what did he say?
21:49Try a soft reset. Pull the battery lead off.
21:51Leave it for about 10, 15 minutes.
21:53It could be a glitch in the computer that they've replaced
21:55and it might reset itself.
21:57If that don't work, you'll have to come up and see what's going on.
22:00So I'll disconnect the battery here right now
22:03and hopefully it'll shut down all power to all the computer systems
22:06and give them a bit of a reset.
22:08So we'll leave it at about 10, 15
22:10and put the battery lead back on and pray for the best.
22:13Mate, this is absolutely stupid.
22:15Not one thing, it's another.
22:19These things are sent to try you, mate.
22:25Mate, try that.
22:26Right there. Ready to go?
22:27Yeah, try it, mate.
22:29Hang on.
22:33New beauty.
22:35Back in action.
22:38I'm digging out the overburden and digging out the pay dirt wash.
22:42I'm going to throw it in the back of the dump truck.
22:44He'll spread it out with a bulldozer
22:47and then he'll go over with the detector
22:49and recover any gold that's on it.
22:54Solid little target there.
22:59Ah, there it is.
23:01Look at that.
23:03All right, this is about an ounce and a half.
23:05So you're talking nearly four and a half grand
23:07just in this piece alone.
23:09But it's pieces like this and bigger
23:11that really shoot your tally up so quick
23:13and make this operation viable and worthwhile.
23:16Now, we've got heavy machinery.
23:18The cost of running them isn't cheap.
23:20Maybe it's a sign of better times to come.
23:24Denise, how are you?
23:26Is everything OK?
23:28He's actually been in ICU.
23:30Yep.
23:34But he's OK.
23:36He's now in the recovery ward.
23:38He's OK?
23:40Yeah, he's OK. He's doing good now.
23:42Thank bloody Christ. I've been praying all day.
23:45He's going to be OK.
23:47Thanks so much, Denise, for calling us.
23:49Letting us know. Give him all my love, OK?
23:51I will indeed. I will indeed.
23:53No worries. Thanks, Denise. Bye-bye.
23:55Bye.
23:56Chief, got a copy, mate?
23:58Yeah, mate, I do.
23:59Yeah, I just spoke to Denise.
24:00I've got some good news. Nevy's all right, buddy.
24:02Nevy's all right.
24:04Good stuff, mate.
24:06I will, mate. Our minds can rest a little better right now.
24:11Good news.
24:13It's just the best news I could hope for, really.
24:16It just wasn't Nevy's time to go.
24:27So, the chain that drives the trommel locked up.
24:31Yep.
24:33And that's why it played up.
24:35It's just picked up a rock.
24:37I don't know really how it got in there, but it got in there.
24:40Oh, shiver me timbers.
24:42It can break the chain, but we haven't this time.
24:46The trommel was going...
24:48..bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam.
24:51And it stopped.
24:53So, we went to the rescue.
24:56So, I was actually pretty lucky that a cat spotted that when she did.
25:01Nothing much broken.
25:03Time to get back into it.
25:08That could have been absolutely devastating.
25:11It's not like you can just pop down to your local hardware shop
25:15like five minutes away down here and, you know,
25:19two-and-a-half, three-hour drive.
25:31Kill it.
25:33Go.
25:35The mats are looking pretty full.
25:37Take them home, clean them out and see how we went, eh?
25:40Water out on the lease is scarce,
25:43so Brett and Kat take the mats to the river.
25:46Where they rinse out the heavy concentrates
25:49from their first three-tonne sample
25:52before panning it to extract the gold.
25:55I'm actually seeing a hell of a lot of fine gold.
25:58Oh, that's exciting.
26:00Look, there's heaps of gold right all the way...
26:02..all the way through there.
26:04Oh, that is awesome.
26:06Most of the gold we tend to find is what we call nuggety gold.
26:09This is what they call the gold that's in the middle.
26:12Most of the gold we tend to find is what we call nuggety gold.
26:15This is what they call flower gold.
26:17It's so fine.
26:19So this is a really good sign.
26:21We're going to have to go back and look for some more.
26:23Oh, I'm up for that. Absolutely.
26:32Another good target here.
26:34And it's all wrapped up in that quartz again.
26:37Somewhere contained in that quartz.
26:39Going to be a good quantity of gold.
26:42All right. Add that to the stash and we'll keep going.
26:46Hey, baby, you copy?
26:48Hey, I just found this little patch here.
26:50I found four nuggets literally within a metre max of each other.
26:55I'm thinking you can come and join me here and give me a hand.
26:59Yeah, righto. After that, close together,
27:01I'll bring the broom over and we might sweep that little area, eh?
27:05Basically what we do is we sweep all the big rocks, these larger rocks.
27:09It's going to get our coil right down close to the dirt,
27:12and that's going to improve the detection of any small nuggets
27:16that might be sitting underneath the surface here.
27:22We'll grow some more signal here.
27:24Nice.
27:28This is bloody hot.
27:30This is bloody hot.
27:36It's deep.
27:37It's super deep.
27:42Oh, my God.
27:44Goody, eh?
27:45Come have a look at that.
27:50Yeah, that is a good bit. Look at that.
27:52It's still quite reefy too, so it sort of means that
27:55this gold hasn't travelled too far from its source.
27:58I'd say that this little patch of gold here that you found
28:00is probably going to be the main reef, main supply.
28:04Really?
28:05Yeah, it's good gold.
28:07What do you reckon?
28:08That enough to keep you going for a while?
28:10Yeah, definitely.
28:11All right, I'm going to go back and grab a drink.
28:13Yeah.
28:14All right.
28:15Jasmin's been so excited about getting our own mining lease.
28:20I can tell you he's already been looking at machinery
28:25and just always want to be prospecting.
28:28That's why he's the happiest.
28:33Hey, what's going on?
28:35I just got a text message from Grant.
28:37He's had an offer on the place and wants an answer from us in 24 hours.
28:40Oh, what?
28:41So we've got to get back and get this gold crushed
28:43and make a decision.
28:45Oh.
28:46Oh.
28:54How many ounces do we need to say yes?
28:58If we can do five ounces out of what we've got,
29:00that's going to give us enough to say yes or no.
29:03Anything under five ounces, we just say no?
29:06I think that's a fair call and fingers crossed.
29:12Basically, we're just going to crush the rock in the crusher
29:14that's running now.
29:15We're going to turn it to dust, to powder.
29:17We're going to run it through a wet sluice.
29:19We're going to run water over it.
29:21All the heavies are going to catch at the bottom of the dream mat.
29:24And once we've got all the heavies separated from the light stuff,
29:28we're going to tip that into a pan, gold pan,
29:31and we're going to pan it out.
29:35I hope we see gold in this top mat.
29:37Ooh, look at this.
29:40Yes.
29:41That is massive.
29:42There's gold all the way through this.
29:44I know.
29:45I'm excited to get it in a pan and see how much we've actually got
29:48and add the nuggets to it and see if we've got the five ounces.
29:52This is the moment of truth for us.
30:07I'm just going to bring the excavator over a bit closer
30:10to this quartz blow.
30:11If there's gold in that quartz, it should show up in the dirt around it.
30:15The Brumbies are sampling dirt
30:17based on mining company records from the 1970s,
30:21showing rich gold deposits called anomalies.
30:24The anomaly rating is between one gram per tonne,
30:28and in some spots it goes up to five or six grams per tonne.
30:32For a multimillion-dollar company, this ground might not be viable,
30:36but for small operators like Brett and Kat,
30:39it could hold a life-changing amount of gold.
30:42Five grams a tonne and you're making profit well and truly.
30:45So we're going to have a dig around and look for it.
30:49And what I'm actually looking for
30:51is a little bit of a change of colour in the dirt.
30:56There we go.
30:57There's the colour change that I was looking for.
31:02So what have you found?
31:03So we've got a bit of a three-zone contact here.
31:06We've got kaolin clay, degraded greenstone and quartz.
31:11So it's got the recipe for gold.
31:14Do you want to see if you can detect up a nugget or two?
31:17Yeah, no worries.
31:18All right, cool.
31:20Quartz, clay and greenstone are all gold-bearing rocks.
31:25Zones where all three minerals are in contact
31:28are some of the best places to find gold.
31:32This is kaolin clay.
31:34The way you can tell is you pick some up,
31:38you smoosh it in your hands
31:40and you kind of get, like, a greasy, soapy feel.
31:46Oh!
31:47So that sounds pretty good.
31:51Yep, she's out.
31:56Oh, I heard a thunk then.
31:59Yeah, that sounds all right, doesn't it?
32:01Yeah.
32:02She's gold.
32:03Yeah?
32:04Yeah.
32:05How big?
32:06She's closer to a gram.
32:08It's pretty obvious that this dirt's got a bit of gold in it.
32:11Let's go and run some through the plant, eh?
32:29OK.
32:30Last bucket.
32:31Last bucket.
32:32Brilliant.
32:38All right, let's see what we've got, hey?
32:42Hello.
32:43We've got one there, one there, another one there.
32:47Yeah, we've got this one here.
32:49Another one there.
32:50Another one there.
32:51Another one there.
32:52That's all we've got.
32:53That's all we've got.
32:54That's all we've got.
32:55Another one there.
32:56Another one there.
32:57Another one there.
32:58That's awesome.
32:59Well done.
33:00All right.
33:01I can't wait to see what else is going to be under there.
33:04So promising.
33:15Hey, Brent.
33:16Mate, it looks like Nev's here, bud.
33:18What was that?
33:19Mate, it looks like Nev's coming.
33:22You're kidding me.
33:25Hi, guys.
33:27How you doing?
33:28How you doing, mate?
33:30Hey, mate.
33:31Give me a hug.
33:32How are you?
33:33Mate, so good to see you, mate.
33:34Yeah.
33:35What are you doing out here?
33:36Well, mate.
33:37You just got out of hospital.
33:38Yeah, well, like I said, the cancer controls enough of me life now, mate.
33:43Yeah, they're so worried, I can tell you that right now, Nevy.
33:45So what are you doing out here?
33:47Just staying at home?
33:48No, no, I've come to do some work.
33:50Mate.
33:51Yeah.
33:52Nevy.
33:53I want to be out finding gold.
33:54I mightn't be able to do a lot.
33:55If something happens to you out here, I'll be feeling guilty you're out here helping me.
33:58No, no, no.
33:59I don't know how much time I've got left.
34:01So I want to be out doing what I love doing for as long as I can.
34:05Sooner or later, the cancer's going to take me life.
34:07I know, mate.
34:08And the last month or two of that, I won't have the energy to do it.
34:12So you really want to stay out here?
34:14I'll be staying.
34:15I'm happy to have you out here.
34:16I want you out here.
34:17You helped me set the target, but...
34:19Yeah, and that's exactly right.
34:22You've only got 1,000 ounces to get, and you're wasting time talking here with me about me being back home.
34:29So how about you put the pad out, put some gold out on the pad, and I'll help you hit that 1,000 ounces.
34:34Okay, boss.
34:35You're fired up now.
34:36All right.
34:37He's back in our spot.
34:38I get it, I get it.
34:39All right.
34:40Let's go.
34:41Let's go, Ethan.
34:44We've been getting a few bits this week.
34:46Nothing extraordinary, you know.
34:48Yeah.
34:52Hang on, mate.
34:53I'll just get a bit of this crap off before you start digging.
34:56You shouldn't even be digging, Neville.
34:58All right.
35:01Give it a little scratch, mate.
35:02Just a little scratch.
35:14Got it.
35:15Second grab, mate.
35:17Still haven't lost the knack, mate.
35:19No, I seen it.
35:20I seen it then, too.
35:21Beautiful.
35:22How many grams is that one, Neville?
35:24About a little bit.
35:26Four or five grams.
35:27I reckon five.
35:28Yeah.
35:29That's four or five hundred bucks, mate.
35:31That's not bad.
35:42You all right, mate?
35:43Yeah.
35:44Just a bit of pain in my stomach.
35:47Have you?
35:48Yeah.
35:49You shouldn't be bloody using the pick, mate.
35:55There he is.
35:57Another little fella there, see.
35:59Another little bit, huh?
36:00That's 50 bucks, none the less.
36:02You all right?
36:03Yeah.
36:04Yeah, no worries.
36:05I'm right.
36:06I know you're right, but you're not.
36:07I got a little bit dizzy with a bit of pain.
36:09What I'm thinking is I might nip back to the car and grab a drink,
36:13see if it settles down a bit.
36:15All right.
36:16He probably really should be going home, but he's stubborn.
36:18He probably won't do that, you know.
36:20A bit of a worry.
36:24I get these little spells where I get a bit dizzy and, yeah,
36:28I might have a bit of a chuck or something.
36:30But, yeah, I know that'll worry Brent and Ethan.
36:37So if I sit down five or ten minutes, then I might come good.
36:42Hey, Heath.
36:43You there, mate?
36:45Yeah, mate.
36:46Got a copy?
36:47I think we might just finish it up, mate.
36:49Yeah, mate.
36:50I think that's a real good idea, bud.
36:52No, he's not too well at all, mate.
36:54I'm thinking the same.
36:55A little bit concerned for him, to be honest.
36:58He's strong, mate, but he's not invincible.
37:02We have to draw the line somewhere to look after his own safety
37:05and health too.
37:06So it's a point in time of where do you play bad guy?
37:11That's hard.
37:13I'm sad.
37:14It really is.
37:16It's disappointing because I want to be there
37:21and I want to help him as much as I can
37:24and just be out finding some gold with him.
37:27And it's been me life.
37:30It's been my life's journey of 35, 40 years.
37:36And, you know, you just don't want to give up on that.
37:45Perfect.
37:57All right.
37:59Let's do the important bit.
38:00Let's have a weigh up.
38:01Yes, let's check out how much we've got.
38:03A bit excited.
38:04All right.
38:05I've already done the maths on this super fine stuff in the pan
38:09and we have 0.17 in there.
38:120.17.
38:14So to find a patch of flower gold, it's definitely really promising.
38:18But let's weigh up the nuggety stuff.
38:20That's the nuggety stuff that we pulled out near the courts, yeah?
38:24Yeah.
38:27All right.
38:28What have we got?
38:290.349.
38:310.349.
38:32That's not too bad.
38:34Yeah, that's pretty good.
38:35I'm happy with that.
38:36That adds the total up to 0.519.
38:40So we've cracked half an ounce.
38:42Yeah.
38:43So that's $1,500 any day of the week.
38:46Brilliant.
38:47I see a bit of potential in this ground
38:49and we will definitely be working this bit of ground for the near future.
38:53It took a little while to find, but we're on a winner.
38:56Yeah, absolutely.
38:57The Brumbies are way behind on their target of 50 ounces.
39:01But locating a higher concentration of gold close to their wash plant
39:06could kick-start the second half of their season.
39:10It's just a matter of running the tonnes.
39:13Yeah.
39:14Huge win.
39:15Yeah, no, that's awesome.
39:16All right.
39:17So I think we've earned ourselves a bit of a break.
39:19A nice cup of tea and he's gone.
39:27Well, here we go, eh?
39:29We've got the fine gold that we pulled out of the species.
39:31We've got the nuggets that we dug.
39:33Time to weigh them up.
39:34Under five ounces is a no-go, yeah?
39:37I think if we don't get the five ounces,
39:38then we've just got to walk away from it.
39:40Moment of truth, you ready?
39:41Yeah.
39:450.403 of an ounce.
39:48Gee, that's not what I was expecting.
39:50I thought we'd go well over half an ounce on that.
39:52Ready for the nuggets?
39:55Oh!
39:593.6 ounces, not quite the fives that we agreed on.
40:04We'll have plenty more opportunities coming our way.
40:08All right, well, I'll put a phone call in to Grant,
40:10let him know that we've got a hand over $10,800 worth of gold.
40:14This is the bit that's actually killing me.
40:17Justin, how you going?
40:18Hey.
40:19What's the news?
40:20Mate, I'm just not sure if the $500,000
40:23is something we're going to jump at at this point, mate, so...
40:27Fair enough, mate.
40:28I've actually, the other offer's good to go,
40:30like it's happening.
40:31I wanted to give you first chance on it
40:33because, you know, we've known each other a long time.
40:35Appreciate that, mate,
40:36and appreciate the chance to get out there and have a go at it.
40:39Yeah.
40:40All right, well, I'll put a phone call in to Grant,
40:42let him know that we've got a hand over $10,800 worth of gold.
40:46Appreciate the chance to get out there and have a scout around.
40:49So we come up with a total of 3.6 ounces there, Grant.
40:52I'll get it off to you in the next couple of days, if that's all right.
40:56You know what?
40:57I'm happy to split that with you.
40:59You can keep half.
41:00How does that sound?
41:01Mate, I really appreciate that.
41:03That'll help us cover the costs and the fuel and whatever,
41:06and that's real good of you.
41:08We do appreciate it.
41:09Glad you get something out of it.
41:10Absolutely, mate.
41:11Thank you.
41:12We'll catch up for a beer down the track, eh?
41:14Sounds good, mate. Take it easy.
41:15All right, thanks, Grant.
41:16See ya.
41:17See ya.
41:18Whoo!
41:1950%'s not bad.
41:20We get to keep 1.8 ounces.
41:23Chloe and Justin's dream of owning a mining lease still out of reach,
41:28but they're well on the road to their 10-ounce season target.
41:32I'm stoked.
41:33Yeah, me too.
41:35Really happy, and I think now we should just finish for the day,
41:39go have a beer.
41:41Sounds good. Let's do it.
41:42Let's do it.
41:45Let's do it.
41:51Wow.
41:52That was an interesting week, Nebby.
41:54It's been good to get out here.
41:56Well, I'll tell you what, mate, it's amazing you're even out here.
41:58Start of the week, I was thinking you weren't even going to make it.
42:01Yeah, the family was all worried, but dammit, I came through it.
42:06Dammit!
42:08I get the chance to see some gold.
42:10Well, you had a chance to find some gold.
42:12Put some energy back into me.
42:15We've got nothing chunky-chunky, but it's not bad.
42:19Nice pieces.
42:20Lots of chunky bits amongst it.
42:21Yep, yep.
42:22All of the smaller stuff, we're at 7.45.
42:264.5, mate.
42:27Yeah, 4.5.
42:28I've got some of the chunky a little bit.
42:29Oh, yeah, yeah, nice bits, but yeah.
42:30Look at that flat bit.
42:31That's not bad.
42:32And that was a chunky one.
42:33That was a big one.
42:34Sorry, that's only an ounce and a half, that bigger one, eh?
42:36Yeah, yeah.
42:37So that's 9.96.
42:40Close enough to 10 ounces anyway.
42:41Yeah, so that's about 30,000 right there, mate.
42:43Well, we were 147 ounces prior to this.
42:46That's plus 10.
42:47That brings us to 157 ounces.
42:49That's a long way off 1,000.
42:50Yeah, it is.
42:51A long way off.
42:52But, Nev, listen, in saying that, though, mate,
42:55that is just under half a million dollars' worth of gold.
42:57What I want to tell you, mate, what you've done for us this season,
43:00coming out and helping when you're terminally ill
43:03and then taking me back to all your special spots,
43:06I respect and understand why you're doing it, mate.
43:09That'll keep me alive.
43:12I know you're sore everywhere.
43:13For so long.
43:14Yeah, don't squeeze me.
43:15I'll burst.
43:17Hey.
43:18Thanks, buddy.
43:19All right.
43:20Appreciate it.
43:21It was great being out here.
43:22Let's get Nev home, mate.
43:23All right.
43:41We'll be right back.
43:42We'll be right back.