Hoffman Family Gold

We're down to the end here, man.

It's the last week.

We need to hit that goal and get out of here.

This town's about to freeze over.

And it all comes down to the final push.

We're gonna kick some ass now.

Just have to burn that midnight oil.

The Hoffman family needs

their highest payout of the season.

138 ounces of gold this week

to call their season a success.

I'm hoping and praying this is good.

Everything is out of our hands right now,

and it's up to fate from here on out.

But with the black Pearl out of commission

and their pay dirt on the brink of freezing solid...

We got about five hours of pay left.

We need every bucket that we can scratch.

Can hunter get his old relic to run in time?

I'm praying to god it's the right parts we need,

otherwise the black Pearl's done for the season.

Or will their season stop dead in its tracks?

Right now the black Pearl's still down,

and I'm having trouble finding the parts that I need

to get it fixed.

Come straight out my way.

Splines are tore right off the ceramic friction.

Pressure plate's cracked.

So you think there's no way around it?

We're down for a couple days?

Couple days. I need parts.

We're gonna have to fly them in,

and I don't know exactly how long it's gonna take.

Without the black Pearl running,

we're not gonna hit 1,000 ounces,

and we need to be running.

- So... - What's the verdict?

From what I'm hearing,

it's gonna be at least four days

before we can even get the parts.

Wow.

And you know how it is every time we fly in parts.

It's like, you know, they say four days,

- could turn into seven. - Then it's like

- it seems like six. - Or eight.

- Ouch. - And then we gotta install it.

To me it looks like we are not gonna make our 1,000.

So we definitely have to do something.

That's for sure.

So that puts us behind?

Yeah, I don't know. It's just...

It is what it is.

That puts us at least a minimum

of 100 ounces behind.

Everybody scavenged around town.

That part's not here.

No way?

There's no way.

But, you know, I think I have a creative solution.

What I'm thinking is me, cub and sparky

run the holy roller at night,

and we just run that thing 24/7

to just make up for the yardage.

Otherwise I don't see any other way

how we're gonna get the gold.

Running the plant at night,

that's where you seem to have the most problems.

You gotta really be on your game.

It... I... it makes nervous.

Well, the Pearl's not gonna go.

So you got a solution. I think it's a good one.

Yeah, I mean, running at night, it's just...

Hard. I know.

If you guys are willing to,

to go for it, we'd love to...

We need the gold, period.

Let's do it. I mean, let's run a night shift.

You know, hunter, it makes me feel good

that you're coming up with your own solutions.

That's kinda the only way I see

us making it, so... It is.

It really is.

The way I'm looking at it,

I'm not willing for us to have another loss.

We need to win this season.

I wanna hit 1,000 ounces.

We all deserve it. We all need a win.

- Yeah. - So till the Pearl gets up and running,

me and my guys will run at night.

Keep the gold on track.

Cub and sparky might not like it,

but this is what we need to do.

Well, you go talk to 'em about it.

Get them on the same page

and friggin' turn the lights on, rock and roll.

Okay. I'll go talk to the guys

and then I think we start tonight.

You know, right now there's not a lot of hope.

But, finding that nugget...

To me that's a sign that we need to keep going.

And, you know, we've come way too far

and worked way to hard to give up right now.

So I'm gonna talk to cub and sparky

and hopefully they're on board with me.

Because without them, I can't really do it.

Hey. Todd to tater. Do you have a copy?

Yeah, bud. Go ahead.

Hey, how's... How's that pay dirt looking?

What's it looking like up there?

It's frozen.

How much, how much of it are you finding?

Are you still thinking there's quite a bit left

or are we getting close?

I'd say we've got enough to run a few more days.

The Hoffmans have already mined

more than half the pay dirt from the lost cut,

with only 43% remaining.

The team is up against colder weather

that threatens to freeze the ground

before it can be mined.

They have roughly seven days left

to reach 1,000 ounces.

Talk about an uphill battle.

The black Pearl is still down,

and it's really costing us.

We still need 138 more ounces.

Basically it's about 20 ounces a day.

But the holy roller's only averaging

about 12 ounces per day.

Hunter approached me and my father about

maybe running all night.

I have a few reservations.

It's super-dark out here.

We have a few lights, but...

Usually if something bad's gonna happen,

it happens at night.

And our plant isn't exactly bulletproof.

We've had several hoses blow,

we've had some issues here and there as well.

But I think it's actually pretty admirable of him.

But even with running at night,

there's no way we can do this with just the holy roller.

We can run up to 300 yards an hour with this machine.

But we're just gonna need more volume.

It's gonna take the black Pearl to get it done.

Hunter's gotta get his plant running.

I gotta break the bad news to the guys,

but also I have an idea I wanna run by 'em.

They're probably not gonna like it.

- Yo. - What up, brother?

Okay. So...

It's gonna take at least a couple days

to get that part in.

Couple days?

Yeah, they gotta fly 'em... My god.

From the states, fly 'em up here.

You know how everything takes when they...

- That's a struggle. - Try to ship stuff up here.

And it's probably gonna be longer and everything.

I know.

So...

This is what I was thinking.

I know you guys aren't gonna like it.

But.

I was thinking that maybe

we run the holy roller at night

after they shut off.

Plant's already difficult to run

during the daytime.

Imagine running it at night.

It's dangerous.

That thing is a hot mess.

There's so many frickin' psi gauges,

levers, you name it.

I hate that plant. Sorry.

We're already sleep-deprived,

and...

You know, that many hours when it's dark...

Hear me out, though.

We're not gonna be able to run anyway.

Okay? And if we do run,

it gets us closer to 1,000 ounces,

which helps everybody out. That's the way I look at it.

Obviously there's risks.

This plant's not super-simple,

and it's a lot harder to run it at night.

- Way sketchier. - But it'd just be us three.

And we would just run it,

get some more yardage on their box,

just keep running. If we do this, I think...

It'll benefit us in the long run.

So... but obviously I can't do it

unless you guys wanna do it.

If you guys are totally against it,

then I don't wanna do it, but...

It's kinda the only idea I had right now.

What do you think?

You're the leader, and, you know,

I respect that decision.

So if that's what you wanna do.