But on that wasn't a very good cleanup.
They only ran two hours before they broke 0.57.
It's not enough. No, I think we need to get in here, Freddy, and really make up a plan
for these guys, because the truth is, you know, if anyone needs it, these guys need it.
Yeah.
Freddy and Juan have less than five days to get the Addams Family plant, producing at
least 15oz of gold a week to keep their gold setting dream alive.
What do you think? I want to go to this ice cream shop we've seen, and we can talk about
it. Let's do it. How are you doing?
All right. Can I get a root beer float, please?
Can I take a large banana milkshake, please?
Thank you very much. Appreciate it.
It's kind of nice to be working at a mine where we're only 15 minutes from an ice cream
shop. Yeah, no kidding, man.
Well, Fred, what do you think?
Really? There's. There's quite a bit to do here, and I want to try to kind of figure out
what our timeline is looking like.
Conveyors that are blessing or a curse.
And right now, I think that's their biggest bottleneck.
Let's get the conveyor set up properly.
And that's going to be a big help because, one, it increases production and then two is
going to keep their production up as well.
That's right. Keeps them running.
Yeah. All right. Now, that material isn't falling far enough in off that conveyor.
So I think we need to move the conveyor forward.
If we do that, then we got to move the feeder as well, huh?
Yeah. Well, then that chute going out, that one side is getting favored with all that
material. Yeah. We need to get a chute to go out before it hits the sluice runs.
So on this conveyor, Fred, right here, you know that tail pulley?
That's actually what shut us down.
Yeah. It's not a true tail pull.
It's a head pulley. So what I was thinking about is actually designing a new tail wheel
for it. I'll build it.
That'll be time. There's a lot of work, but.
But I think really, with what they got going on, that's really what they need.
Yeah.
The conveyor loses 10% of their pay.
Freddy and Juan's fix shift it further over the hopper and attach an innovative broom
wiper to clean the belt.
To prevent rocks jamming at the base.
They'll switch out the problematic head pulley with a self-cleaning tail pulley.
The sluices pack up on one side, Freddy and Juan will install a v chute to evenly
distribute pay and ensure they catch gold across the full width of the riffles.
During their first run.
You know, we ran two hours.
So with these repairs, we ought to be able to have a full run.
Yeah, So I like it.
Well, let's finish our ice cream and, eh, let's do it.
Sounds great. I've never seen you get a banana milkshake.
It's usually peanut butter. They're out of peanut butter.
Oh, no, Peanut butter. Okay. I was.
I was wondering why.
First line of business.
We want to move your conveyor uphill.
You know, there's gold in that pile.
So instead of that material landing on the ground, we can get it in the hopper.
So let's shut the rain off.
And you guys have like a one acre umbrella.
No, that's all we need. Well, let's get to work.
All righty. Thanks, guys.
With a threat of bad weather.
Freddy and Juan push forward with their first fix, moving the conveyor.
Let's try that.
Coming out? Yeah. We just need to control that conveyor just a little bit.
We're going to lift it and we want to scoot it over.
But the problem is the way they got it rigged.
When they lift it up, it's going to turn on them.
You want a strap to go around that?
Yeah, I do. We're going to hook up the Cfmoto with the winch.
As we lift, we'll pull it back and get it into place where we need it.
Tighten her up a bit. One.
So everybody watches me.
Everyone, stay away from that cable, please.
Cables over a big freaking rock.
Okay, you ready? Me and you coming up.
Okay, one. Oh, it's pulling it one.
She's going. Keep going.
You're getting pretty snug, aren't you?
Yeah, we're pretty. Pretty tight.
Well, that's a handy pile of dirt to have.
That's a good one. Oh.
Double check.
Perfect. Done the lifting and moving.
Yes. We just got to pull this belt back now.
When we shut down the back of the belt, scoot it all the way over.
So we're going to try to straighten it out a little bit.
Perfect. Want to see what it does, my friend?
It's coming. Yeah, it's coming.
A little more. That works.
Beautiful beauty.
Good job, Wayne.
Yeah, the old guy does a little bit yet.
He's not old. He's only 78.
My dad just turned 69 today, and my.
My son's birthday's tomorrow.
Okay. Yeah. There you go.
Awesome. It must be tough to be away from home, eh?
Yeah.
It is. That's the hardest part about it.
Yeah.
I know. When we were looking at going gold mining, you know, obviously the Yukon, if we
had an opportunity with some ground up there, we decided we just can't do it with
our families like that. It's just tough.
It's too tough. So that's why we decided to come this direction.
And because it's here, we can actually live and and make this home year round.
Yeah, for.
Sure. No, you definitely miss out on a lot, though.
How busy are you? Roger.
What do you need?
I might have you come up there with me and help get some measurements to build.
Kind of a custom wiper for that conveyor.
Pull the tape for me.
To keep the belt as clean as possible.
Freddie's custom wiper must be made to measure.
I'm pretty sure the belt is 36, unless it's some metric.
Oh, you know what? We got a broken pillow block here.
Oh, your bearings broke?
Yep. That's not good.
That's broke.
Yeah. Oh, shoot. This is now bent.
That's what broke the bearing.
Yeah. She's fricking bent.
Good to. She's been in three quarters of an inch.
Yeah, that's a big one here.
Well, right now we've got a broken bearing.
And without that being fixed, this conveyor can't run.
So it'll tear itself apart.
We need to find out if we can get this bearing.
And it's not going to be easy.
Easy to fix.
We got a full day's work here, at least on this top end for a couple of guys.
But it can't run without us repairing this.
That's right. It can't.
Your plant's down right now.
It's officially down.
Yep. Hey, Juan.
Hey, Freddy. What's going news, man?
Bearing the top is broke.
The top of the conveyor is bent in.
It's just destroyed.
There's a day and a half work to fix this.
Just that it's not a ha ha deal.
But without that, fixed everything else we're.
Doing, there's nothing.
Yeah, it means nothing.
It's nothing.
Well, that changes everything.
I honestly think maybe the idea of maybe doing a tail pull is kind of out the window.
It is now. We'll build some rock plows down lower.
We can do those to.
Keep the rocks from getting into the tail.
Hopefully Roger can find a bearing.
But you know as well as I do, if we don't fix that, nothing else happens.
We're dead in the water then. Yep.
All right, Freddy.
How's it going?
Going good.
Any luck on the bearing?
No. No.
I've done some calling around.
Couldn't find anything. But something occurred to me.
My neighbors just down the road been gold mining here for years.
And I know they got a can with a lot of stuff in it.
And this. Wonder if there's a chance maybe they would have some.
Yeah. Let's have a look.