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00:00Rusty, I'm getting a little bit stewed up here. These people have been fronted. I hope
00:12they're reliable.
00:13These people never let me down, so you'll be fine. I'm sure they'll be there soon.
00:16I haven't seen anybody and I, well, I don't know what's going on.
00:20Hey, just double check where you are because, I mean, they've never let me down before,
00:24so, and these people know their gold.
00:26This family specialises in the hard rock mining in that area. They have all the gear you need
00:29to crush and sample, so if there's gold at Messenger's Patch, these guys will find it.
00:34Okay, well, that's what I want to hear. I think I can see something humming along there
00:37now. I'd better hang up there, Rusty. I'll catch you later, mate.
00:43Good luck.
00:44Are you kidding me?
01:00Geez, you look a bit bigger on TV.
01:02I am the real deal. And who are you?
01:04I'm Ryan.
01:05Is anybody else with you?
01:07My mum and dad. This is them coming in now.
01:14Good morning.
01:15Neil, is it?
01:16Yes.
01:17G'day, I'm Christine.
01:18Christine. So, I'm Rusty's mate, Shane. I see you've got all the gear. I hope the gear's
01:21as good as what he says it is.
01:22Well, we can only give it a shot, mate.
01:24Okay, well, follow me down to where we are and we can get stuck into it. What do you
01:28reckon?
01:29Let's do it.
01:32It's good to finally meet Shane. Russell's told us a lot about him. Hopefully, we can
01:36help him out. The ground looks good.
01:38Yeah, it does. There's a lot of quartz about. I like a bit of salt and pepper.
01:45Well, Rusty's people have turned up. They've got some small crushing equipment. It should
01:50be able to give us a good indication of what material I've got here at Messy's, in fact.
01:55So, what we'll do, we'll head down there and we'll see if we can start processing the
01:59gold.
02:00Rusty?
02:01You're getting better looking, I can tell you.
02:04After travelling over 1,400 kilometres into the bush...
02:08It's coming!
02:09Hey, Rusty, she's running like a dream.
02:12Shane and Rusty found gold at Fantasy Gully.
02:15$18,000 in one week. That's not bad.
02:18It's worth celebrating, Rusty.
02:19Shane! Turn it off. There's a problem with the water.
02:23But their good fortune was short-lived.
02:26We need to get that water sorted out, boys.
02:28I've decided to come down south. If Russell can't rectify the water, this is our future.
02:34We need to keep our season alive.
02:37With the help of geologist Ryan Cahoon, Shane found a hard rock deposit rich with gold.
02:44That's 1,000 grams per tonne on that spot, on that piece of rock there.
02:48Now, Shane is hoping that Davis' one-of-a-kind mobile crushing plant
02:53can turn his high-grade rock into a massive gold payday.
02:58Well, this is probably better than what I thought we'd get through with this sort of gear.
03:02Yeah, well, when he called us and said, we thought we'd bring it all out.
03:05Now, what about you guys? Tell me about you.
03:07Well, I started detecting in 2002.
03:10Caught a pretty major gold bug while I was doing my apprenticeship.
03:13So is this bordering on gold fever?
03:15100%.
03:17And what about you? You tell me what's going on.
03:19Oh, mate, I rocked up to the Merchants and Magic of the Bush, fell in love.
03:25Well, we can see that on the proceeds that you got there.
03:28The young rhino here, he's been detecting around gold his whole life.
03:31Three weeks old when the first pair of headphones went over his ears.
03:35Then at about three years old, was pinpointing for Dad.
03:39Just don't drop it.
03:42Russell organised youse here.
03:44He knows I've got some good gold here.
03:46And this is exactly what I need.
03:48And I hope things go well.
03:50I think that's going to be all right.
03:52Right-o, Shane. Everything's pretty well built.
03:54Next step is we need some rocks to put through it.
03:56And then a deal.
03:58I think a simple way of doing it is just half.
04:01Straight down the middle. There's no arguments in.
04:04Okay, done.
04:05Sounds good.
04:06All right, Neil. We've got a deal.
04:07Okay, well, I'm going to go and get some rocks.
04:09Let's feed the beast.
04:10I was a bit sceptical about Russell.
04:12But he came through.
04:13These people are great.
04:14The machinery's great.
04:15And this will be a season saver.
04:17And I'll go down and get me backhoe
04:19and start tearing some of this quartz out.
04:24Well, rhino, I've dug a costine over here.
04:27I've exposed a reef down there.
04:29It's a big piece of quartz.
04:30It looks very positive.
04:31I like it.
04:32I just can't wait to crush it up.
04:34Over millions of years,
04:36seismic activity pushed molten gold and quartz upwards.
04:41As they cooled in the Earth's crust,
04:44they formed gold-rich hard rock structures called gold reefs.
04:51Righty-o, Brian. Let's get on the gold.
04:53Okay, Cole, let's get the first scoop in.
04:56Neil's done a great job with his family.
04:58They're all set up.
04:59Now it's up to me.
05:00The faster I go, the bigger the return.
05:03My whole season's hanging on this.
05:06This machine's tired.
05:08It's a bit like the driver.
05:09Come on, keep going.
05:11Look at this quartz here.
05:13This is promising.
05:14Tell you what, Brian, it's a big reef here.
05:16Look at that.
05:17Good.
05:18There's gold in it.
05:20Okay, Brian, I'm jumping off.
05:24You're doing a man-sized work here today, Brian, weren't you?
05:27Yep.
05:28Okay, let's get the quartz out of here.
05:31Well done, Brian.
05:32You whipped that over your old man.
05:34I can't hear that machine running.
05:36It ain't running.
05:37There's no gold.
05:40Oh, here he is.
05:41Good boy.
05:42Finally got some rocks to crush.
05:43Awesome.
05:44Let's have a look at what we're dealing with.
05:46Some nice quartz.
05:47Hopefully there's a good bit of gold coming through.
05:50Thanks, my love.
05:51You reckon you can get me some more?
05:53Yep.
05:54Thanks, buddy.
05:56All right, let's get these rocks in the water.
05:59The Davises Mobile Plant uses an impact crusher
06:03that spins at 3,000 revolutions per minute.
06:07It can turn 500 kilograms of gold-bearing hard rock,
06:11an hour, into fine powder.
06:14Yeah, so that's one bucket.
06:16Once they've crushed the reef,
06:18they'll use a wet plant to separate the gold from the water.
06:22OK, Brian, get the next one going, Brian.
06:25Let's get out of it.
06:26We're on our way now.
06:32Oh, look at that there.
06:34Big quartz structure here.
06:36Too big to crush it up.
06:40I want to get that big one out.
06:45Now, we've got a big one.
06:49Now!
06:51I've exposed a big quartz reef over there.
06:54It's a very, very large piece of quartz.
06:56Obviously, the backhoe's not touching it.
06:58Not touching it.
06:59Why don't you come over and have a look?
07:01Let's do it.
07:02Let's do it.
07:05What have we got here?
07:06Well, we've got a big quartz outburst here.
07:09It's still attached to the reef,
07:11but I'd really like to get some good samples out of this.
07:14What do you reckon we can do?
07:16Obviously, no backhoe.
07:18Jackhammer no good.
07:19Nope.
07:20I know there is gold down there, Neil,
07:22but if we can't move that boulder, we're well and truly screwed.
07:35Well, Teague, welcome to the Desert King.
07:38Dad's going to be so excited to see you.
07:40I know, I'm excited.
07:41It's been a while.
07:42It's so good that you got time off work.
07:44Finally.
07:45Last week, we were up here, we found around 10 ounces.
07:48Really?
07:49Mm-hmm.
07:50That's pretty good.
07:51Hopefully, we find them today.
07:53Some of the girls here.
07:55Yay.
07:57I reckon you stay in the car, and we'll totally surprise you.
08:04Hey, Dad.
08:05Hey, Ab.
08:06Hi, babe.
08:07Hey, hon.
08:08We made it.
08:09Jeez, what's with this weather?
08:10It's so good to see you.
08:12We brought you a surprise.
08:15Who's that?
08:16Teague.
08:17Hi.
08:18Hello.
08:20How are you?
08:21I'm good.
08:22We brought the good luck charm.
08:23Yep, fingers crossed.
08:24You just heard how much gold they found last time, right?
08:26I did, yeah.
08:27Well, hopefully, you can find some, too.
08:29So what's the plan?
08:30We're going to move the machine over there into that other valley
08:32and start pushing over there and get you girls on the detectors.
08:35Awesome.
08:36Sounds good.
08:37I did see some quartz sticking up through there.
08:38So is the quartz the key we're looking for?
08:40Most of the gold in this country comes up with the quartz,
08:42so that's why I've got the crusher out here.
08:44We'll take some samples, crush it up, and see what we get.
08:46Awesome.
08:47Could be sitting on the mother load.
08:48Let's hope so.
08:49Let's go, team.
08:50Let's do it.
08:53It's great having the girls come out and give us a hand.
08:55I haven't seen Teague out in the bush for quite a few years,
08:58so having them all here together at once is exactly what I wanted.
09:01Spend time with the family in the bush and find gold together.
09:04We're already halfway through the season,
09:06and I haven't even got halfway with the gold value yet,
09:09so there's a lot of work still to be done.
09:13It's so nice that I've got both girls up here this week.
09:17Paul's been up here for a long time, but most of that time he was on his own.
09:21I was back raising the children, but the kids are older now,
09:25so it's actually really nice that we can all come together.
09:28Hopefully we can make this work for us as a family
09:31and we don't have to have other careers.
09:33This can just be our main focus and we can all come together.
09:37We're selling the Phoenix project.
09:39It's given us a good little coffer that we can work with.
09:42That's allowed me to hire this big machine.
09:45Hopefully it's not a waste of money
09:47and we can actually pull some decent gold out of the ground.
09:50But at the end of the day, we're here at the Desert King now,
09:53and this is our livelihood, so we've got to make it work.
09:56I don't normally hedge all bets on one operation.
09:59I've only got a few things on the go, but at the moment this is all we've got.
10:03There's a big mining company in the area, and they've made me an offer.
10:06No mortgage, debt-free, money in the bank.
10:08Let's do it.
10:09Sell the Phoenix project.
10:10Woo!
10:11We got that.
10:12After selling the Phoenix project,
10:14the Mackeys moved their operation 600km south to the Desert King lease.
10:21Look at that!
10:22That's a thumper.
10:23Finding over $35,000 worth of gold in their first week.
10:28Nice!
10:30Now they're back with a 65-tonne dozer to hunt for the source of the gold.
10:36Trying to push up a bit where the girls were finding their big nuggets last week
10:41and hopefully uncover some more big chunky yellow gold nuggets.
10:46The lease is pretty big,
10:47so I told the girls what they're looking around detecting,
10:49keeping an eye out for any quartz outcrops or ironstone outcrops.
10:52Just something that I know is an indicator of where gold comes from.
10:56Really want to find a nice, decent quartz vein.
10:59You know, a bit of ironstone in it.
11:01Just something to help point me in the right direction here.
11:05At the moment, we're not really seeing anything.
11:10I'm glad you're up here.
11:11I'm glad I am as well.
11:12Getting to spend time with family.
11:15How are you going with the detector?
11:16Getting the hang of it slowly.
11:18You're a good teacher.
11:19It's been a while.
11:20I've been told before.
11:24I hope we find a signal soon though.
11:26Yeah, me too.
11:30Yes, that sounds promising.
11:34Give that a go.
11:36Maybe dig a little bit deeper.
11:39Sounds good.
11:40Maybe give mum a ring.
11:41Yeah, good idea.
11:42Copy, Shan.
11:44Yeah, I got your take.
11:45Do you reckon you could head down?
11:47Sounds a little bit promising, but we're not sure.
11:49Oh, that sounds good.
11:50I'm on my way.
11:51Beautiful.
11:54Hey, girls.
11:55Hi.
11:56What you got?
11:57Hopefully a big nugget.
11:58You might need a break through that layer.
12:00Come on, Ebbs.
12:01Get into it.
12:03Oi!
12:04Cheeky.
12:06I think it's right about here, Teeks.
12:08Let's have a look, hey?
12:10It sounds pretty promising.
12:12Oh, it's in your hand.
12:15Oh my God, I cannot believe this.
12:28I've just been out to do the fuel run,
12:30and we can fill up the generator and the loader.
12:33That's one of our biggest bills, is fuel.
12:35Probably on average, between everything,
12:38generators and the loader and camp,
12:40we probably spend about $350 a day on fuel.
12:43And it's something you have to do, you have to buy,
12:45otherwise you can't dig for gold.
12:47The frustrating bit is when you're not getting gold,
12:49you're still spending the same fuel.
12:51The weather's been really wet, wetter than normal for winter,
12:54which has been really disappointing for us
12:56because the dry blower does need dry dirt.
12:58It doesn't work if it's wet.
13:00Gold's going to stick to it and you're going to lose gold
13:02and it can sort of block up your trees.
13:07Here comes Cheryl back with fuel.
13:09That's good, just in time.
13:12Whacking up a load in while she's setting up.
13:16It's great having Cheryl up here.
13:17She's on the ball.
13:18She's learning all these little things.
13:20She's doing great.
13:21She's chucked in a high-paying, qualifying job
13:25that she's been doing as a midwife for 25 years
13:28to come out here and help me follow the dream.
13:31If it doesn't work, it's all for nothing.
13:33We're not playing.
13:34We're not just little hobby gold miners.
13:36This is our livelihood.
13:37If it doesn't work, we're screwed.
13:40We're about halfway through our season target at the moment,
13:43which is pretty good for the run we've had with weather.
13:47We haven't been able to run the ground we want to run.
13:49We've had to make do with where we've got some dry piles.
13:53They aren't always the best,
13:54but something's better than nothing.
13:56And then now we can get back onto some dry ground
13:59and hopefully have a higher yield
14:01because we can push up where we want to.
14:04We made it.
14:05After setting an ambitious 50-ounce season target...
14:09Choking too much dust.
14:10..first-time miners Cheryl Munro and Simon Laws
14:14overcame mechanical failures...
14:17We've done it again, I reckon.
14:19..and breakdowns...
14:20The hopper is overfilling.
14:23If my friends have fallen, see me now.
14:26..to stay on the gold.
14:27Well done, Laws. We did well.
14:29Woo-hoo!
14:33Righto, that's me filled up for today.
14:35So I'll keep running this dirt.
14:37This is a really good spot here.
14:38Remember that dirt we pushed up before the rains came?
14:41Yeah.
14:42In the valley there?
14:43Maybe I could go there and detect and see how that is.
14:46Yeah, that's a good idea.
14:47All right, see you later. Good luck.
14:51Let the dust begin.
14:53Woo-hoo!
14:58We've really got a great advantage with the dry-blower we've got.
15:01I can do about 30 tonne an hour through the dry-blower
15:05and it catches ultra-fine gold,
15:07which you can't always get with the dry-blower,
15:09but we've fine-tuned it very well.
15:11There's a lot more of that fine dust gold around
15:14than what there is nuggets, and that's the same everywhere.
15:17But a lot of people just forget about that.
15:19They want the glory of the nuggets,
15:21where the money is actually in the fine dust and all of that around.
15:26Hopefully, where Cheryl's gone out to have a bit of a detect,
15:29she's going to find a bit of gold.
15:33Simon pushed this area up just before the rains came in
15:36and he thought it looked quite promising.
15:38It's always important to be a step ahead.
15:40You always have to think of, all right, we're on good gold now.
15:42What are we going to do next? What's going to happen after that?
15:44Have a plan B and always have a plan C back up as well
15:47because we just can't afford to have downtime.
15:49Downtime costs us lots of money.
15:53Woo-hoo! That's a good noise.
15:58There's a bit of hard rock here, so it's hard to get to.
16:02Yeah, it's quite deep.
16:08Aha!
16:11Look at that. That's a good one.
16:13It's still got bits of quartz stuck in it.
16:16That's probably about a quarter of an ounce.
16:21About $1,100.
16:24Good find. Happy with that.
16:26That's fantastic.
16:28We don't often find big bits like that here.
16:30That's my biggest find. I haven't had it for a long time.
16:33It would be nice if we got a few more of them and some finds.
16:35Happy days.
16:47Oh!
16:49Oh, it's up and shut down.
16:57Ah, there's the culprit.
16:59Big rock.
17:02Well until it wedged in there too.
17:09So what's happened, it's fallen off the front of the screen
17:11and then it just lands down there and up there and gets stuck.
17:16It's happened before.
17:17Won't be the last time probably either.
17:23Oh yeah, that's cooked. I can smell it from here.
17:25It's gotten too hot.
17:27The rock's got jammed in there.
17:29The belt's not working, but this is still grinding its *** off
17:32and it hasn't tripped the switch quick enough.
17:35So that's a new motor. I don't think I've got one at camp either.
17:40You got a copy, Cheryl?
17:42Yeah, copy.
17:43You wouldn't believe it, but I've burnt the motor out on the conveyor.
17:47*** Simon, what are we going to do now?
17:59I'd really like to get some good samples out of this.
18:02What do you reckon we can do?
18:03Obviously no backhoe.
18:04No, backhoe won't even touch it.
18:06I'd be wasting jackhammer on that one.
18:08Yeah.
18:09But I do have a bit of a technique we might be able to use.
18:11Got these steel wedges, the ancient technique.
18:14We'll see if we can split the ***.
18:16Well, Neil, I'm relying on your expertise.
18:18So what I think we should do is just get on with it.
18:22That's it. We don't have dynamite, so this is the next best thing.
18:26The ancient wedge and feather technique uses metal tools to split rock.
18:32Wedges are hammered into shims, known as feathers,
18:36creating enough pressure to split the quartz.
18:39You want to go with the grain of the rock.
18:41Yeah.
18:42As you drive that in, it should open up.
18:45With a number of them in a line, it just takes the work out of it.
18:48All three work together.
18:50So the deeper you get those, the further down your crack will be.
18:53Yep.
18:54So you're always moving back and forth.
18:59Come on, buddy, keep going.
19:01Neil, look at that.
19:02Keep it going, Neil.
19:03Fight on.
19:05Fight on, Neil.
19:09Do you want me to get my bar and bar that for you?
19:11Let's do it.
19:12Come on, Neil.
19:13Neil, that's it.
19:15That's unbelievable, Neil.
19:17This is what I'm after.
19:18This is absolutely perfect.
19:20Whoo-hoo!
19:22Well done, mate.
19:24Looks good.
19:25Absolutely.
19:27I think we've got enough here for a good sample size piece for the crusher.
19:31Same process.
19:33You and Ryan bringing it to me and Christine.
19:35Let's do it.
19:37You were meant to help me a bit there, righto?
19:40Okay, run that over to you, Dad.
19:51That's better.
19:58This is just a bit of concentrate we've got that will run further,
20:02but this is just our indicator.
20:04We'll have a bit of a look what's at the bottom.
20:06Whoa!
20:08That's fine.
20:09Can I have a little drool over it?
20:11I'm very positive about that.
20:13For the size of that machine and the work it does, it is just unbelievable.
20:17And it takes all the work out of it, like literally not double handling any.
20:21Okay, well, let's just get on with it.
20:23No point in talking.
20:24That's it, we're on the gold chain.
20:25Let's get back to crushing.
20:35How did you manage that?
20:37Rock come over the front of the screen.
20:40Yeah.
20:41And got caught underneath that little tensioner wheel
20:43and it's burnt out before it's tripped the switch.
20:46We'll have to get a new one.
20:47With the amount of mining that goes up on here,
20:49someone will have something,
20:51but it's whether we're going to get the right shaft size
20:53and the right speed motor.
20:57Well, there's that off.
20:58That's pain.
21:00Pain in the butt.
21:01Well, there's that off.
21:02That's pain.
21:03Pain in the bum.
21:04But anyway, I'll do some ringing around
21:06and see if I can find one up here before I rush off to Perth.
21:10Fingers crossed you do get one up here
21:11because you don't want to be travelling back to Perth and take two days out.
21:14I'll have a bit of a ring around and see what I can find.
21:17Oh, good luck getting one.
21:18I'll give you a call later.
21:19Adio.
21:24I've got hold of old Trev.
21:25He's a bloke in town that's got a big scrapyard.
21:28He's away at the moment working,
21:30but he'll be back there later on.
21:31He's basically said I can go in and have a look around
21:34and see what he's got there.
21:36So I'm heading in to go and have a look
21:37and hopefully I can find something.
21:40This motor that's blown,
21:41like it's a crucial part of the operation.
21:44Really with the dry blower,
21:46you take one aspect out, any moving part,
21:49it stops the whole operation.
21:51So it's not as though you can just think,
21:52oh, we can work around that.
21:53So hopefully I can find something that's going to fit the bill
21:56because, you know, downtime's money.
22:04I don't know. Let's see how we go.
22:11Out here in Trev's scrapyard, or his boneyard, they call it,
22:14with all the old machinery that's either discontinued
22:17or broken or maybe still working, just surplus stuff.
22:22Plenty of motors around out here.
22:23Just got to find the right shaft size
22:25and the right configuration to fit.
22:27This is an all right looking one.
22:29No plate on that one.
22:36Ooh, here's a good looking one.
22:40Yeah, right size.
22:43Shaft moves, so it's not seized,
22:45but perfect size, perfect speed.
22:48Looks very promising.
22:50Hopefully it works.
22:53Here comes Trev now.
22:55Good timing.
22:56Hopefully he knows whether it works or not and do us a deal.
23:00G'day, Simon.
23:01Trevor.
23:02How are you?
23:03Good.
23:04I just found this one in the pile amongst the others.
23:08Do you know if it works?
23:09I don't know if it works.
23:11You'll have to try it.
23:13It's not seized, so what do you want for it, do you know?
23:17See if it works, and then we'll talk about it afterwards.
23:21All right, then.
23:22We'll do a deal.
23:23Perfect.
23:24Thank you, sir.
23:25Well done.
23:26All right.
23:27Yeah, Simon.
23:28Get going.
23:30Good old Trev's come through.
23:32Let's hope it works.
23:34If it doesn't, that's a two-day drive to Perth
23:36to go down and get another one.
23:44Oh!
23:46Do not see that every day.
23:48I can't believe that.
23:49How much do you reckon that's worth?
23:51$5,000.
23:52Look at that.
23:53Yeah, absolutely.
23:54That's some good luck right there.
23:55High five.
23:56High five.
23:57Yes.
23:58Thanks.
23:59Well done, Ebbs.
24:00Woo!
24:02Well, I hope this is the source of where the gold's come from.
24:05Don't have that much big, chunky nuggets come out of an area
24:08of not being able to source, have one major source for it.
24:12The good thing is I've got the girls out there.
24:14They're all doing their part and having a good look.
24:17Hopefully they can pull some gold out of the ground as well
24:19with some nuggets.
24:20All that adds up at the end of the day to the gold tally.
24:23The gold game's fun and all, but at the end of the day,
24:26if you run it in your own business,
24:28the amount of money that it costs to keep on going,
24:31like the cost of this machine,
24:33I literally need to be finding gold on a daily basis.
24:37If I'm not, then we're just going backwards.
24:42Hey, do you reckon this is the quartz Dad was talking about?
24:45It could be.
24:46Yeah.
24:47I reckon it might be.
24:48Oh, Ebbs.
24:50Look at that.
24:51That looks like quartz to me.
24:53Yeah, definitely.
24:54And I noticed when we were walking past,
24:56I reckon that's the iron contact that Dad was talking about.
24:58Yeah, we could be onto something here.
25:00Look at that.
25:01We're surrounded by it.
25:02I reckon I give Dad a call.
25:03Can I get a copy, Dad?
25:04Yeah, copy, T.
25:05I think we may be onto something here.
25:07We found some quartz and I think we just walked past
25:10some iron contact as well.
25:11Do you want to come check it out?
25:13Yeah, sure.
25:14I'll be on my way.
25:15Awesome.
25:18Hey, guys.
25:19Where did you go?
25:20See, this looks all right.
25:21Yeah.
25:22Do you reckon we could be onto something here?
25:23Yeah.
25:24Well, you've got, looks like a quartz outcrop just behind you there
25:26and there's a lot of iron on the ground, too.
25:28It actually looks pretty good, to be honest.
25:30Yeah.
25:31And you're on top of the hill, too, so that makes sense.
25:33All the gold's washed all the way down here where we were finding it.
25:35So it's exactly what we're looking for.
25:37Do you reckon we should crush it?
25:38Definitely.
25:39It's the only way to tell.
25:40Let's grab some small samples, take it down to the crusher.
25:42You guys can pan it off.
25:43Yep.
25:44Let me know if there's gold in it and I'll bring the dozer over
25:46and we'll rip into it.
25:47Let's go.
25:49I've got a bag here.
25:50Let's start collecting samples.
25:52That there is super exciting.
25:54There's a lot of quartz, there's a lot of iron.
25:56It's the right recipe for gold.
25:59All right, let's rip this sucker up, see what's in it.
26:09Come out.
26:10Big sluts here, too.
26:12Making the equipment work really hard.
26:14We're pretty warm outside.
26:15I can see the temperature going, just climbing a bit now.
26:18I need to keep going.
26:19I need to get down a little bit deeper
26:21and actually see what we can uncover here.
26:26Come on, old girl, you can do it.
26:33The smell of fluid.
26:35It smells like coolant.
26:38We have to go down and have a look at that.
26:42That ain't good.
26:45I can smell coolant everywhere.
26:52Uh-oh.
26:54Yeah, mongrel.
26:55I can see radiator fluid everywhere on the ground down there.
27:00I hope that's not a water pump.
27:03I hope that's not a water pump.
27:16We've finished crushing the reef.
27:18Now we are heading back to Neil and Christine's property.
27:21We've got the concentrations here,
27:23and what we'll do, we'll run it through some little milling stuff
27:26and gold wheels and all those sorts of things,
27:28and I hope we get some good gold out of it.
27:31If we get very good gold out of it, that's good for the future,
27:34and we'll be able to come back here with some large machinery
27:37and probably some even bigger crushing material.
27:44So what have we got here, Ryan?
27:46Gold.
27:47It feels good, Shane.
27:48It'll feel good when it's running through there.
27:50I'm really excited.
27:51We've gone from half a ton of quartz rock
27:53crushed down into a nice tub of concentrate here.
27:57From there, I reckon we'll get a nice little pan of gold
28:00that we can smelt down.
28:02It's going to take me four or five hours
28:04to get through all this concentrate, though.
28:06Shane, seeing as you're such a gun operator on the detector,
28:09there's a bit of ground that I've been meaning to get to,
28:12and I think you, me and Ryan, the three of us together,
28:15would get some good work done.
28:17So you want to come out for a beep?
28:19You're pouring the pressure on me,
28:21but I'm only too pleased to look for gold.
28:23All right, have a good beep.
28:24We're going beeping. I like that.
28:26It's all in Christine's hands.
28:28You won't know the future of messages, Pat,
28:31till all these concentrates are processed.
28:35So once we've got our gold wheel going round,
28:38water looks good, it's flowing down nicely.
28:40Let's load them up, see what we've got.
28:46I'm going to pop the concentrate through the gold wheel.
28:48As it turns, the water's going to come out of the spout here.
28:51It's going to continue to turn.
28:53All of the gold, the heavy's going to come into the pan.
28:55We've got plenty of fines through onto the mat in the sluice.
28:59Seeing some visible gold come through,
29:01it'll be interesting to find out what's in the mat.
29:03We'll be able to pull the mats, clean them out,
29:06pick up those ultra fines from there.
29:09So really, really excited
29:11about what the concentrate has shown me already.
29:18All right, Shane, this is it.
29:20This is the spot I wanted to show you.
29:22I've done a bit of work in here,
29:24so I need your expertise to show me where I should be looking.
29:27I think we'll head up that way.
29:29Still got a bit of tree, bit of stuff there.
29:31If we're going to find anything, let's go find where it's virgin.
29:33Yep, let's do that.
29:41Pretty handy having Shane around.
29:43He's been in the game a long time.
29:45Just a different set of ideas.
29:47Sometimes you just get stale,
29:49so you need some feedback off other prospectors,
29:52especially someone with the experience Shane has.
29:55Like, I've had some good mentors over the years,
29:58but they're no longer here,
30:00so I might start tending to Shane a bit more.
30:12There might be a bit of gold.
30:14Dad!
30:16Hey, Bruno, you calling me?
30:18I think I've got a nugget!
30:22There's nothing.
30:24Step right, put your coil right back off and come towards it.
30:29Right, so that tells me it's right in that front pile there.
30:39Dad!
30:41Yes!
30:43Shane was right.
30:45What's this racket going on here, Rhino?
30:47Shane, have a look at this.
30:49That's what I just found.
30:51Yep.
30:52That's unbelievable!
30:53You found this today on your own back?
30:55Yep.
30:56That's unbelievable, mate.
30:58Ryan, I've got to go because I've got to find a bit of gold
31:01because you're making me look real bad here.
31:03Let's go find some more.
31:10God, there's sounds everywhere, hey?
31:12Well, I'll try this bit first.
31:16You've got to make a little bit wider cut
31:17so you can detect the head in there.
31:22Nice sound.
31:26The deeper you go down, the better chance you are.
31:35Whoa!
31:36It's happening.
31:38Not there.
31:39There's a sound here.
31:40It's a big sound!
31:42It's in me hand.
31:45Whoa!
31:46Look at that!
31:47It's a nice piece of gold.
31:49I would say it's about a gram and a half.
31:51Money terms, about 150 bucks.
31:54Certainly worth my time coming out here.
31:58How are we getting on there, boys?
32:00Good, mate. How did you go?
32:01Good.
32:02Definitely got some good nuggets.
32:03Yep, we've had a good day.
32:05The star man looks like it's going to be Ryan,
32:07but we don't know until we weigh it out, do we, boys?
32:10Well, the truth's on the scale, Shane.
32:12Let's go weigh it up!
32:20I seriously hope this is not the water pump
32:23or a blown radiator hose.
32:27It's bloody cooling everywhere.
32:30Ah!
32:32That radiator hose, the clamp's come loose.
32:34It's dripping.
32:39All right.
32:42It's not weeping now.
32:44Glad it's not the water pump,
32:46because that would have been a bloody costly exercise.
32:49Hopefully, that's all it was.
32:52Abbey, there's a bit of shine in there, along the ridges.
32:54Do you reckon that's gold?
32:56I think so. I don't know.
32:58It's shiny.
33:00Look at that.
33:02It's shiny.
33:04Look at that.
33:06Roughly a couple of feet.
33:08That's what it was.
33:10There's a bit of shine in there along the ridges.
33:12It's shiny.
33:14It is.
33:16It's shiny.
33:18It's probably not the radiator hose.
33:20I don't know, look at us go, Evie.
33:23Maybe give dad a call.
33:24Yeah, OK.
33:26Copy, dad.
33:28Yeah, go ahead, Gidget.
33:31We're just panning the dirt now.
33:32Do you want to come down and have a look?
33:35Yeah, I'll be right there.
33:39It looks like you nearly finished the first pan.
33:42Would you like to take over?
33:43Yeah.
33:44All righty, what have we got here?
33:46So are we dreaming, or is there anything there?
33:48Um, you want the good news?
33:50Yes.
33:51Yes.
33:51There's a lot of gold in there.
33:52Really?
33:53Where?
33:54Oh, look at that.
33:55Oh, my god.
33:56I'm so stoked with that.
33:57I can't believe you guys just pulled that off
33:59the top of the ground.
34:00I was not expecting it.
34:01Neither was I.
34:01We may have actually found where it's all coming from.
34:04Yeah, we've got to rip that up.
34:05Yeah, dad, go on.
34:06Go rip it up.
34:07Get to it.
34:08Don't have to tell me twice.
34:09Get to it.
34:10I'm getting straight into that machine.
34:12That pan was phenomenal.
34:14If I can rip into that with a dozer and open it up
34:16and find some big, chunky rocks that contain gold,
34:18we might have found the source of our 200 ounces for the season.
34:22I hope we're on the jackpot here.
34:33It's opening up the ground just beneath where the girls
34:36found that quartz reef.
34:40If I can get that cap rock off,
34:42I might have some luck with some hidden gems underneath it.
34:47The rocks are digging up here.
34:48Look at it.
34:49The girls might have got onto it.
34:50We'll find out shortly.
34:53Hopefully, I'm not skirting over the top of the hard rock.
34:57We've actually stumbled across a good gold lead here.
35:00That's going to be us for the season.
35:03I'll just be mining this for the rest of it, I reckon.
35:05Alright, let's give it a pass.
35:07We'll try and stay away from the ripper marks where I ripped,
35:10and we'll just go in the center.
35:12Alright.
35:13No worries.
35:16I reckon this is a fair bit of washed gravels here
35:18in between that iron ridge and between that quartz.
35:20Yep.
35:21There might be something in here.
35:23I think it's crossed, hey?
35:24Yeah.
35:25I'm sure it is.
35:26I'm sure it's crossed.
35:27I reckon it is.
35:28I reckon it is.
35:29I reckon it's crossed.
35:30I reckon it is.
35:31I reckon it is.
35:32I reckon it's crossed.
35:33I reckon it's crossed.
35:34Yeah, the blade went down pretty quick here, so...
35:36That sounds like a good signal.
35:38It is a good signal.
35:40Well, you're basically down to the rock there anyway.
35:46Ooh.
35:51What have you got there?
35:55It's a bit of banded iron.
35:57Yeah, OK.
35:59There's gold in it!
36:01Serious? Look at that.
36:03That's a good little specie, Teague.
36:05Yeah.
36:07Look at that gold stuck in that quartz right against the edge of the iron.
36:09Yep.
36:11That's what we're looking for.
36:13Absolutely.
36:15It's like those other banded iron over there in amongst the quartz with the stringers.
36:17There's gold here.
36:19Good find.
36:29Beauty.
36:31Oh, that's good. Good old Trev.
36:33Yeah, right size and right shaft.
36:35And it spins, but...
36:37It works.
36:39It's been there a while. He doesn't know if it works or not.
36:41Fingers crossed.
36:43We'll get it on there, and you can just help me lift this other one off,
36:45and we'll test it out.
36:49Do you want me to hold it here?
36:51I can just have this.
36:53Look, it works.
36:55I don't want to do a two-day trip to Perth.
36:57Yeah, either owe Trevor a million dollars or nothing.
37:01Moment of truth.
37:03Fingers crossed.
37:13Yes.
37:15Good old Trev.
37:17I know.
37:19I'm getting back into it.
37:25I'm stoked I'm getting that conveyor motor back on and running.
37:27Trevor really comes through with the goods there.
37:29So I've run them perfectly.
37:31Dirt's nice and dry.
37:33It's flying through.
37:35Just trying to smash absolutely as many tons as I can
37:37while I can,
37:39while it's nice and dry.
37:41And I reckon this dirt's going to run through really well.
37:47There it is.
37:53Coffee, Simon?
37:55Yeah.
37:57I just found another two-whey nugget.
37:59It's quite close together.
38:01Oh, that's great.
38:03Hopefully we get a good run over there.
38:05A little dust pixie coming through with the goods.
38:07So we've had a good week.
38:09We've got lots of tons going through.
38:11I'm hoping for a good weekend.
38:13The boys are back.
38:15How'd you go?
38:17Well, I'm more interested to see what you all got, Christine.
38:19It's been on my mind all day.
38:21Come around, Shane. Let's have a look.
38:23Thanks for coming out.
38:25Country people helping country people, right?
38:27Well, I just can't wait to see what you've actually got.
38:29The proof will be in the pudding.
38:31Throw it on the scale
38:33and tell me what you've got.
38:353, 4, 5,
38:370.7, 0.8,
38:391.1,
38:41Shane, 1.1.
38:43That's a lot better than what I thought.
38:45It's outperformed my expectations
38:47and I really like it.
38:49And remember, there's still plenty of that there.
38:51We only grabbed a quarter of it.
38:53The good news is that I've got a future there now.
38:55Don't forget, we got these from today.
38:57It's good you put us in the right direction.
38:59Good on ya.
39:01Alright, what did we come out with, boys?
39:031.28.
39:05Hey, Rhino,
39:07I don't know you got one up your sleeve.
39:09Let's have a look at it, Rhino.
39:11Oh, mate.
39:13Your nugget brings the total to
39:151.37.
39:17That means it's nearly $5,000.
39:19That's $2,500
39:21that we share between us.
39:23You're absolutely fantastic running that oar
39:25backwards and forwards on that quad bike.
39:27Great stuff.
39:29Well, I've got something for you here.
39:31Oh, what does it say?
39:33On the gold.
39:35Put it on, Rhino.
39:37You're a pretty unforgettable character, Shane.
39:39Thanks so much, Shane.
39:45Righto, I'll run this bucket.
39:47Hand it off, Laurie.
39:49So this is
39:51just a little sluice, and we've started
39:53with it in the dry blow, and we've gone from
39:5530 tonne an hour down to
39:57three little buckets we end up with.
39:59And then this is going to classify it down
40:01even more, and the bigger gold
40:03will get caught up in the black mat up in the top
40:05of this hopper here.
40:07And then more gold will be down the bottom
40:09in the green mat, and that'll be
40:11all the real fine gold.
40:13There we go.
40:15That's
40:17two pans of the six, and
40:19that's a bloody good result. I'm stoked
40:21about that. Catching all those
40:23fines around here on the
40:25water. That's what you want, that
40:27really, really fine gold.
40:29That's where the money is. There's so much more of that around
40:31than the nuggets,
40:33and that's all there because someone hasn't been
40:35able to catch it in the past.
40:37Looking at that, we're easily going to be
40:39hitting our ounce a day in that patch
40:41there. Truth will be in the way.
40:47Oh, excited to see what we've got.
40:49Yeah, I'm looking forward to doing the big weigh-in.
40:51See how the week went.
40:53We did have a good week, really.
40:55Apart from that little breakdown, which was six hours
40:57down time. And if we didn't have that,
40:59then it would have made a difference as well.
41:01Definitely. Going on that last clean-up as well,
41:03that's really good grammar on now,
41:05so it's going to be good.
41:07And then the weather's been in our favour, and it's so nice
41:09not to have the rain to worry about, isn't it?
41:11Well, that's the first time I've been able to push up virgin ground in three months.
41:13I know, that's mad.
41:15Right-o.
41:17Let's see what this dry blower got.
41:234.9.
41:25And then the nuggies.
41:27Good work, Blower.
41:295.4.
41:31That's us halfway through the season target now.
41:33Yeah, and it'll be a good tail end,
41:35you know, because hopefully
41:37now that we're coming into dry weather,
41:39so we can push better ground.
41:41Well, let's get back into it. While this dry weather's here,
41:43we might as well get cracking.
41:45Yep, I'm keen to get back into it,
41:47especially after that last clean-up.
41:49Yeah, I know. It's nice, isn't it?
41:51Let's go. Shabba-dabba-doos.
41:57She's all teared up, ready to go.
41:59Rain time.
42:01You've got the pan as well.
42:03Very good-looking pan.
42:05Yeah, that is fascinating.
42:07And don't forget this spessy.
42:09Don't forget this.
42:11So, let's get on with that.
42:13All right.
42:15Ooh, a nice pile of gold there.
42:17Start with all the small ones first.
42:19What are we at?
42:210.67.
42:23That's not too bad. Over half an ounce.
42:251.7.
42:27Made it a bit better. I'm excited.
42:29Big one? Yeah, what's the big one?
42:31Whoa. Nice.
42:33Taxes over four ounces.
42:35That's excellent.
42:37That's probably close to around
42:3914 grand, I'd say.
42:41We wouldn't have got there without you, Teak,
42:43because you guys found that one.
42:45It's the biggest nugget I've ever found, that's for sure.
42:47Nuggets are well and good,
42:49but I'm more interested in this pan.
42:51Yeah, absolutely. Literally.
42:53This was only one pan.
42:55We didn't crush up that much rock,
42:57so we'll get back out there, open it all up,
42:59but if it's going to stay consistent like this,
43:01then that 200-ounce target's not too far away.
43:03It's looking promising.
43:05So it might have been definitely the right decision
43:07to start the Phoenix Project, I think.
43:09Looks that way at the moment.
43:11Well, celebrate? Let's go celebrate.
43:13Grab the gold, Gidget. Can't forget that.
43:37FOLLOW-US!