金矿的赌注：前进旧矿区 1 Gold Rush: Moving Forward in the Old Mining Area 1

This year on Dave Turin's Lost Mind. Team Turin went to the ends of the earth. Now we found our lost mind. It's not lost anymore. We're the first guys here. There's gold in them hills. To find the gold the old timers left behind. Alright, come on. Now they reveal the untold story. All the responsibility is on me. Of how close they came. No gold. To disaster. Dave freaked out. We all started getting really nervous. It seemed like it was just getting too dangerous up there. It was miserable. And Dave reveals the traits that guided them to success. If you're going to fail, fail quickly. In their toughest season yet. Alaska will chew you up and spit you out. We're getting everything tightened up here. About to head to Alaska. About to cross the border. Hopefully we can get Casey through it. No problem at all. Get out of my truck, Nathan. We knew the Placer gold mine in the lower 48 was going to be tough and limited. So we just had to accept the reality that we've got to go north. For us, Alaska's it. It's the last frontier. And it's really our last chance of finding great gold this year. Into the earth, here we come. Alaska, it separates the men from the boys. Plain and simple. There are no other ways around it. All right, guys. We're about ready to leave the lower 48. You all ready for this? I'm ready. Here we go. Going to Alaska, you're thinking, is this a good decision? Is this going to work out? You don't want to call your family and say, oh my God, we screwed up. We shouldn't have done this. Buckle up, buttercup. Here we go. This season, that's a good question. Is this the season that almost never happened? That's true. We were so close to not having a season. All right, guys. Let's go. With a modern day gold rush booming. Oil fields are starting to dry up. And so there's a lot of big money out there looking for gold. There's a lot of people looking for the same ground that I'm looking for. And so the competition's gone way up. Dave built a new prospecting machine, the Beetle. This is going to give us the edge. The Beetle is working! Let's go get some gold. We've got to find some good gold. And I don't see much. But after an off season of disappointment. It's going to take a full year to get permits. You've got to be kidding me. I'm not getting any color in this pan. We've got no flakes in this one. For us, it's not going to work. When do you start drilling? Right now it's the first week of June. We can't wait for those drill results. Well, that's it. We're under a lot of stress right now. Mining season opened. The team made a final push at their four remaining locations in Montana and Idaho. To make it this season, we really had to show some grit. We had to dig deeper than ever before. We decided we're going to go all out, get these prospects done. We even got a helicopter. And I brought Aaron Rowe, our geologist, out with us. I don't think there's enough pay here. I know. I see it. Hands down, your property has gold. It's just not enough. I don't think it's going to work for us. Hope you got some good news. I haven't got any. It's a ranching family, and they have to get used to you. It's going to take more time. No stone unturned. No gold. We're up a creek without a paddle. For me, I feel the weight of everybody's stress. God damn it! I'm worried. I'm scared. This is our season. Look at it. It's warm. Snow's gone. I should be mining. With all his options in the lower 48, a bust. Hello? Yeah. Hi, Aaron. Dave got word of a last chance prospect. Aaron, the geologist, she got an option for us. It's a property in Alaska. Whoa, Alaska. I don't want to spend a lot of money. I don't want to take the whole crew up there. You guys stay here. Keep looking. Nathan's going with me. I'm all about it, man. Nathan is a very unique individual. I haven't met many people that have learned and picked up on gold mining as quickly as he has. And he doesn't know the meaning of quit. To be a miner, you really need the determination and willpower to keep forging ahead. With the season hanging by a thread, Dave gambled on taking Nate 1,900 miles north. Here we are in Alaska. Joined by new business partner, Lance Bowler. I'm really excited about this prospect. This could be game-changing for the long term. Lance is a smart businessman. I don't have all the money that it's going to take to start this mine, so I need guys like Lance. Dave and I have a good relationship. He's more of a hands-on guy and I'm more of a business guy, so I can do the negotiations. And I trust him when it comes to the mining side. This place here is like the south on steroids. It's freaking nuts. Oh, good God. Shirley Bar. So we're going to dig here, this virgin ground. I mean, that was freaking, that was, that was badass. Everything out here wants to kill you and eat you. But it soon became clear that the mine was not a turnkey operation. Oh, boy. One wheel off, the other one's flat. We've got a problem here. When you start seeing s*** like that, you're like, this is where places, people go to die and machines go to die. You don't leave s*** like this laying around like that. This is not experienced miners at all. In Montana, out of options, all Team Turin could do was wait. Tell you what, Jason, all our eggs in that basket up in Alaska right now. That's what it looks like to me. I should have been mining two months ago. We're in some deep s***. Here's the reality. We did a million-dollar season last year, and it's slipping away really quick. It starts to wear on you, man. That's where that desperation comes in. It really does. There you go. See what we got. Seven grams. Back in Alaska, with the gold not up to scratch, Dave's season was on the brink of total failure. It was a hard, hard blow to us when Shirley Bar fell through. He didn't know what to do. He's like, I don't know what to tell the guys. If it's frustrating for us, I can't imagine what Dave's going through because all the weight's on his shoulders. We need to ground the mine, and he didn't have it. Do you ever watch what I do? I pulled 25 f***ing pans. You know how much gold I found? None. About five f***ing pieces. So you're not finding enough? I understand five isn't enough, right? Correct. Correct. So that's close. Y'all think that it's just f***ing easy. Look at all the people around here. And I make a wrong decision. And I bring everybody up here, get excited. And then I f*** up. And we pull 100 ounces. That's real. Big decision. Big decision. I'll never forget it. I was depressed. I was nervous and anxious. And I was scared to. But you can't just sit there and go, well that didn't work. And so we all kind of rallied together, trying to find anything. But at the 11th hour. I think this looks like a really strong lead, guys. Lance came through. Thankfully, Lance, he stepped up a lot. And I give the man credit. He wanted to find something. He's like, I ain't quitting. Holy cow, look at this bridge, boys. And he makes a couple calls. The trail led them to Glacier Creek. A historical 340-acre mine site in the heart of the Chugach Mountains. Owned by Dan Dempsey and his son Dave. And it was really refreshing to talk to people that not only own the claims, but they're working it. To prove the ground's value, Dave ran a 200-yard bulk test. You guys ready to weigh it up? Let's weigh it up. All right. 1.60. That's going to put it at, what, 20 bucks a yard, I'll bet. You can run that and make money. In order to purchase the ground, Dave and Lance had to find half a million dollars. There's a lot of risk, and we don't have any guarantees, and we've got a really short season. There is no dress rehearsal. This is your one shot in life. You can never stop pushing hard to make your way in the world. Alaska. Already two months into the season, the crew finally had ground to mine. But they were on the clock to beat the Alaskan winter and get the gold. This is the farthest I've ever been away from home. And with that comes additional stress, man. I thought, we're going to get our asses handed to us right out the gate. It's Alaska. Woo! We made it! Okay, we're here. Success or failure, we were going through with it one way or another. Here we are, guys. That's pretty good. I want to show my son that if you put everything into it, you can make it. You just got to be able to keep going. You can't give up. I told you I'd take you to the ends of the earth. We're the first guys here! Coming up. We need everyone on that side of the waterfall to be ready for evacuation. Did you see that? Those frickin' mountains are straight up! Dave Turin sets out the traits that led his team to success in their toughest season yet. There's a relief that we've got a piece of ground. Because I want to start running as fast as we can. But you think about it, that's just the beginning. Almost halfway through the season, the team finally started mining. In Alaska, winter comes early, and I felt we were going to lose the season. And so what I felt we needed was some help. This is one of the most inhospitable environments on earth. You need people who are strong and capable and courageous, and who you can always rely on. A lot of family history with hard rock mining, open pit mining. Just not gold. And this was my time to risk it all and go with it. Montana-born talc miner Andrew Stefalo joined the crew at the start of their Alaskan adventure. Yeah, so we bring Andrew in. He picked one of the most difficult places to learn how to gold mine. Yeah, coming into this job, it was nerve-wracking. Not only are you brand new on a team, but then there's a camera crew too. Yeah, when I sunk that loader right at the start there, I was, yeah, I was like, where's the cameras? Andrew, what'd you do? I came in here to clear this s*** out and hit a little sinkhole. Oh, for fudge-sickle's sake. Andrew, let me jump in there. Yeah, baby! Oh! We all have our screw-ups on camera. We've all had to, I don't know, be embarrassed. I just don't know how to get out of the loader. You got the loader out, but you can't get out the loader. Hey, thanks Daddy Dave. Yeah, I'm just really proud of Andrew. That kid picked it up quick, which tells me he's a good operator. He wants to learn, but he's smart. He did a great job. After two weeks in Alaska... This is what's going to turn this season around. The crew takes delivery of the roach. It was time to get on the gold. We're ready to rock and roll. But Alaska bit back. There's a lot of dangers that come from the environment and from just the fact that you're so remote. But historically, that's Alaska. And up here, it separates the men from the boys. You have to take Mother Nature head on. If you waver, she will take you out in an instant. Not only do you have tsunamis and earthquakes, but in Alaska, I found out real quick that it's the rain. More rain. And more rain. The moment we stepped on this property, we have fault water. I didn't realize it, but it is a rainforest. I mean, we're that close to the Pacific Ocean, and it pushes all that rain in. Gotta see it and believe it. Coastal mountain ranges in Alaska can be drenched in 70 inches of rain every year. This is a horrible way to start your morning. The mining in Alaska definitely had some differences between any other properties that we've been on. Water was our biggest. I've never experienced so much water in my life. This is what nightmares are made out of. It was ridiculous. The waterfall above our camp starts getting huge. I mean, it's going flash flood style, like it was blasting. And next thing you know, it starts re-diverting. Dave freaked out. We all started getting really nervous. I'm going to grab one of the camera guys with the drone. We're going to fly up to see where that waterfall is changing. Go up here a little bit? Yeah. Yeah, right there where it splits. My biggest concern was our camp, because that stream was coming down right at our gold room, our generators, our trailers, everything. So we had to move fast. Hey guys, this is no ****. We have a serious problem. At the moment when you hear or even see panic in Dave, it gets your attention really quick. He's talking about evacuation. Yeah. It was at a point where we needed to get everybody on a side of where if it did wash, they're going to be safe. Production, production, we need everyone on that side of the waterfall and be ready for evacuation. Jason really stepped up. He was right on it. You know, for some odd reason, my entire life I've had to prove myself. Always doubted by others or doubted by people. So I spent a lot of time just trying to prove that I'm a good person and I'm a worker. Some days I feel like a fireman more than a miner just running around putting fires out. All right, guys, Jason's diverted a catastrophe. I think camp is safe. I think Jason is handling stress better. He's not only a better leader, he's more confident in himself. He's accepted the way he is, and I think that's the change in Jason that he's seen. Woo! I'll put a smile on your face any day of the week. This business does give me sleepless nights. There's no doubt about it. It's a tough business. Dave Turin looks back at the traits that helped turn his season from disaster to success. There's a lot at stake right now. And, you know, I got to answer to my guys, their wives, their families, Shelley. Strength is not just physical. If you're strong in the head, you've got it made. Two-thirds into the season. Whatever it's going to take, I don't know if we've got to work extra hours. You've got to work faster, but we've got to get that pay out of there. And after battling floods, constant rain and treacherous conditions. We're in its jaws. Mother Nature ain't playing no favorites right now. It don't give a s**t. The crew had just $167,000 in the bank. A billion-dollar season, bulls**t. And the pressure was beginning to show. We were scrambling. And we were stressed. Just ran out of fuel in the pump. Nobody fueled it. Casey. Nobody fueled it. There was a lot of stress on, Dave. Guarantee there was. You start laying out that kind of money on a mine, you want to get your money back. Yeah, copy that. Uh, I got slipped by. Don't make ******* excuses. It's just a dumb thing to do. Somebody needs to ******* figure it out. Nothing has been tougher than this last season. Ever. John, it's Casey. You don't know where they are. Have you talked to the park service or what's happening? I can't imagine what it was like to be in Casey's shoes. To get a call like that, that your wife's missing. I'd have lost my s**t. My wife and her brother went hiking in the Grand Canyon. They're supposed to be back yesterday evening. They never showed up. Oh, my s**t. And dear God, you know, Casey and I were roommates. And he comes to me at about 425 in the morning and his wife's missing in the Grand Canyon. It shakes you to the core. They got search and rescue looking for him. This is s**t. I'm going to lose my ******* family over this s**t. Oh, God. It really makes you think about your own family. And when you're in the middle of a catastrophe, a scare like that, you know, it really puts things into perspective. Sixteen hours later, Casey's wife, Vee, and then her brother, Arturo, were found by search and rescue. And after a short hospital stay, deemed fit to return home. Maybe I could have been there. Maybe things would have been different. You start playing that guilt card in your head round and round and round. It started really making me question where I'm going with gold mining. The price we pay for gold, there's a price. We leave for a long time and it's hard on families, especially with little kids. Being at home, there's a kind of a feeling that I've got to take care of my family. And there's also in the back of my mind, I have another mining family that I have to take care of. And they're up there without a guy right now. Hey, babe, got you some food. Oh, awesome. I'm glad you're here. I need you. After two weeks away, Casey was ready to return to the site. I'm all right. I mean, that was a tough moment. I know. I was worried if she was dead or alive, and that was a pretty scary thing. And got back in the saddle. You're away from home. Whatever problems you had at home, you've got to try to somehow manage that. I was very pleased to see him back. And I think Casey has to think about this. What's best for his family? It might not be for him to mine in Alaska. It's tough. But we'll get through it. We always do. Never give up. Never quit, man. To keep everybody together, everybody with a common goal, as a manager, you've got to keep morale up. So I just felt like we needed to take a day off and just relax. Don't you have to ask permission to aboard? When you give as much as we do every day, you need to take a moment and go, you need to release. And that fishing trip that Dave did came at a great time. We're fishing! All growing up, this is all my dad and I did. Just never on the ocean. Every weekend we were fishing. Well, by far, if I'm going to answer that, the best fisherman is obviously going to be me. Because I'm the fisherman. Fish on! Jumper! Yeah, there we go! You know, this is a dream of every fisherman to be able to come into Alaska and do this. So, you know, it's awesome. Oh, man, that's a big fish. All right. What the hell is that thing? Who was the best fisherman? Jason always brags about being the best fisherman, but I don't think he caught the most fish. Oh, buddy! Yeah! I get it now. People come to Alaska for salmon and gold and it's awesome. Last fish of the day. Team term, we're family. And, you know, it started out that way. But, I mean, within the third week of Alaska, I knew that this was my last season with Dave. Inside, I had a ton of value. It's great up here in Alaska. Alaska weather at its best right here. To do what we do, you have to be a special person. You have to be tough, kind of self-reliant and independent because, just to be honest, we're gone for a long time. We only have each other to rely on out there. So we have to have each other's back. Because if not, it will never work. Week 12, their brand new 300-yard-per-hour wash plant, The Eagle, lands. The Eagle's high and dry, ready to fly. Oh, it feels good. We got everything to make our dreams come true. Woo! Pushing the team to its limits. Something's wrong with the plant. It's too full. I thought it ran out of material. That's my fault. It's irresponsible. Pretty elementary. Sorry. Chris needs to f***ing figure it out. This year, for me, it started off rough, with high pressure, and it ended the same way. It did not get any better. This is the time we have to put in the hours. We have to go dark to dark. I don't think Chris enjoyed Alaska. I think it was a tough season for him. I don't like being told one thing and being done another. If you don't appreciate me and don't respect me, then we might have to move on. In week 19, Chris was offered the chance to return to his previous mine in Nevada. How's it going? I'm a little lost for words right now. God almighty. I got an opportunity, Dave. You know Jonathan. I'm at Willow Creek. He's wanting me to join him. Whoa. For Chris, the writing had been on the wall for over a year. After Jesse's death, it changed my mentality. It really shook me to my core. It really makes you focus on what's really important in your life, and that's family. I don't know if he ever fully recovered from Jesse passing away. He has a hard time leaving his family, and it's a tough, difficult thing. I've been away more months than I've been home since I've been married. Dave put a lot of trust and faith into him. He probably owed it to Dave to stick around and try and make a go of it. Well, I'm not going to hold you back. It's going to be hard to lose you. It's hard. I love you. And with a week to go, Chris' quick exit rocked the team. Chris is leaving us, and he wants out of here as quick as he can. It is what it is on that. At this point, Chris, I figured he would give Dave more respect than what he gave him on this. I think he was the first guy that I said, hey, you want to go on this adventure, this journey? And I think Chris was the first one I signed. So yeah, he's been with me a long time, and still he's a good friend. Even though I know I'm doing the right thing, it doesn't make it easier. The truth of the matter is, the dynamics of the team changed for me the day that Jesse died. And it hasn't been the same for me. The last four years has changed my life. I always give honor where honor is due. Thank you, Dave. It's one heck of a ride, man. One heck of a ride. Look up. Snow's coming. Oh yeah, it's hitting me right now. It's coming y'all's way. With Chris gone, the team pushed hard into winter. Pretty big planks coming down, boys. On the hunt to hit 450 ounces of gold. You're dog tired. You've given it your all. You're cold, you're wet. For me as a leader, I'm like, how long do you stay? When is enough enough? Do you risk another day? Am I risking, you know, life and death? The last of the pay. Finally, Alaska called time on the crew's first season of mining at Glacier Creek. I think we've done everything that we can do here. It's time to leave. You know, Dave has done an outstanding job building or creating miners. And out of all of us, including myself. I love the man. Oh, Andrew with the camera is so good. He makes me look good. You know, I forget that Dave is in his 60s. He doesn't age. That's the thing about Dave. Dave doesn't age. It's like super weird. Dave will never let us forget that he got a blue ribbon in lion dancing. What do you got that can top my blue ribbon? Go ahead. What do you got? I want these guys to be better than me. Well done. Dave's been a great inspiration to me. He's made me to a better person and I think a better leader. I want to continue to challenge him, work with him, work through it. So that eventually they take over. That's the way I lead. Oh buddy, you're safe and sound now. That was a little nerve wracking. I didn't know it was going to hold it. Dave had a style of mining that he installed in all of us. And by that we wound up becoming pretty self-sufficient on the mine side. You know, whatever happens, I think Dave's got some big ass decisions to make for next season. Things are looking up. I'm excited. Whatever Dave decides to do, I've always said I've got his back. Nothing's changing. Onwards and upwards. What we do is not easy. You know, we're never satisfied. We're constantly trying to learn. We're constantly trying to do better for our families. So that's what drives us. Now we're talking. Well, the production crew, y'all got COVID. Production's out the office, sick as a baby with COVID. And, you know, we did some filming on our phones and stuff, tried to help you guys out. I'm going back to the plant, buddy. But, you know, we're not TV guys. We don't know exactly everything you need. So now we're going to throw this over to Morgan. Jason, what are you trying to do? Are you trying to dredge or are you trying to dewater? I'm trying to get gold. Y'all are like, oh, that's great, Nathan. Good job. You're just going to have dumb ass. There we go right there. That's how I do it. After five months of prospecting, but only three months of mining at Glacier Creek. The team gathered to share the spoils. Tell us about the gold. The moment that Dave would rather forget. I view success as this team. I was pretty upset. You know what? It was one of those nightmares. So this is 401 ounces, right? Yep. This is this week's gold total. Ooh. No! Like, oh, did I do that? That didn't just happen. Hoover, aisle four. And 100 ounces on the ground. At a bar. And I wanted to laugh, but Dave was pissed. Damn it. Easy to do, brother. I don't think Dave was necessarily pissed as much as he was embarrassed. Hey, here's the best part. It's not in the dirt. That is very true. Good news is it was a hard floor. There weren't a lot of cracks or crevices. We were able to sweep it all up. And anyway, we got it all. So we're good. This is this week's gold total. Oh! No way. Wow. After a short season on the first mine they have ever owned. Look at that. 61.9. We are in business. What are we talking about? The team pulled in over $800,000 in gold. The final gold weigh 463 ounces. I was happy because I know how late we started. Had we started clear back in May, that's another half of the season. We would have gone over 800 ounces. You know what? We could do it next year. Jason? That gold's not going anywhere. It's our property. Casey? You give us a full season, we'll kick the **** out of him. We'll pull 1,000. Andrew? Thank you. We're capable of that. So is the ground. Nathan? After going all in on Alaska. Something big's come up. In week 18. The best piece of ground in the lower 48. Dave got the news he's been waiting on for almost two years. I'm on my way to see my buddy Rob Towner. Pretty excited. Rob's got us access to a big ranch up around Avon, Montana. The most important thing in mining and in life, you've just got to have faith that it'll all turn out okay. Oh my gosh, this has been one of the most difficult places to go. And the reason is because the ranchers are fearful of mining. So we've had to jump through a lot of hoops to convince them that we're going to do the right thing. We're going to do it the way they want. We're looking at the land, see how it all lies in here. This gravel creek, it was ground I heard about when I first got into mining. And it was known as the untouchable. Everybody knew the potential that it could have because it hadn't been touched in a hundred years. And this extensive rich plaster up above us, it's for real. So this is the best thing I've ever seen, Dave. After running a hundred yard bulk test. There's some nice nuggets in there too. Beautiful gold. That's it. The results were extraordinary. There you go, 3.67 ounces. That adds up to about $50 a yard. That's double what we expected. You've got good ground and we're really happy with it. It'll be amazing if Dave can lock that property down. It could change everyone's lives. I think it's up to you guys. My goal is this upcoming season, another claim. Let's find that holy grail. Looking at a season in the future, for me, it's how can I be closer to my family and still do what I like to do? That's something I really have to consider and think long and hard about. Dave's got some hell of tough decisions ahead of him. I don't know what we're going to do for next year. I've got Valdez all set up. Thousand ounces. Montana. Can we mine it? Will they let us out there and mine and get the best gold I've ever seen? Team Turner will change next year, but you're just going to have to wait and see. We're done with this interview.