Setting Up the Equipment
We’ve already got a dozer over there, so I need to connect the cable to it. I’ll throw a rope over and maybe use the Cat to get it across. The 3/4-ton, 2-inch thick steel cable has already been stretched across the pond, but it still needs to be hauled the final 50 yards up a steep, overgrown berm to reach its anchor point.
I’m here to hook onto a rope that Len is throwing down over the berm so I can attach it to the cable and pull it up to the dozer.
Initial Attempt with Rope
Len and I can’t pull the cable by hand, so he’s going to fire up the dozer, hook onto this rope, and hopefully pull the cable up to him.
“You can keep going forward.”
We tried using the rope, but it didn’t work. I think I’ll try with the excavator now. There’s a bit of risk it might sink it.
Switching to Excavator
Len decides to abandon the rope idea and use the bucket arm of the excavator, chaining it to the cable to haul it up the steep berm. But to get into position, the 55-ton 700 excavator has to cross soft ground.
“You can see the excavator is sinking a little bit.”
“Okay, Len… that should do it. Beautiful.”
Now the winch cable of the dredge is connected to the dozer. We’ll see if they can pull it off with the winch.
Getting the Dredge Moving
They’ve got every corner of the cable hooked up. If everything is done right, it should pull out smoothly.
“Look how nicely it flows out of there.”
“I think if I go forwards, we’ve got it.”
“That looks good. She’s clear and floating.”
“Boy, that sure felt good getting it up that gang plank!”
“Yep. That’s been a long time coming.”
Starting the Dredge
“You guys want to fire it up and make the thing work?”
“We need a bottle of champagne!”
“With how this summer’s been going, I don’t know if the old lady’s going to go for that. We might need to fill the bottle with orange juice or something.”
“Anyway, if you want to fire it up, let ‘er rip!”
“I’m so excited I could just… my pants!”
Dredge Finally Working
I’m going to start up the trommel. There we go.
“Perfect, the stacker’s coming on.”
“We’ve got water coming. Here comes the bucket.”
After five years, Tony’s dredge is finally catching much-needed gold once again.
“There’s your first dirt in the bucket. We’ve got it going!”
“Looks awesome. Been a long time coming.”
“Nice to see it running again. Beautiful system.”
At Paradise Hill – Weighing Gold
“Hi guys, we’ve got some newbies!”
“Exciting, huh?”
“Glad someone’s excited.”
At Paradise Hill, the Beets crew is meeting for their first gold weigh-in after running three wash plants, including the historic dredge.
“That was a nice run with the dredge, huh?”
“Yep, too bad we had all those troubles.”
“The genset set us up, but it was expected.”
“Yeah, after we got through the problems, it still ran pretty well.”
“The sluice lot ran all week pretty well. It’s nice to have a plant running again.”
Stockpile and Weighing Gold
“So you’re building quite a stockpile by the trommel there, dude.”
“The plant’s not chewing through the dirt as fast as they’re bringing it, so you might as well pile it up there.”
“What do you want to weigh up first?”
“I’ve got three dryers.”
“Okay, let’s weigh that dredge up. How long did we run it for?”
“I think only two days.”
Tony’s hoping the dredge will deliver at least 20 ounces.
“2 oz, 5 oz, 15 oz… final is 22.56 oz worth over $40,000.”
“That’s what we said — 1 ounce an hour. Pretty close.”
“The cost of running it is cheap if you can run that thing every day, 24 hours a day. It’s a nice producer.”
Next up is Sluicelot, which has run all week at the Indian River and should be bringing in 200 ounces.
“10, 20, 40, 50, 100, 120, 140, 180… final total is 184.36 ounces.”
“I’ll take that any day!”
Trommel Total and Season Summary
The trommel, dialed in at 300 yards per hour 24/7 on Paradise Hill, should bring in around 400 ounces.
“Mike’s counting: 20, 30, 40, 80, 100, 120, 130, 150, 180, 190… final total is 205.22 ounces.”
“That’s not great for 24/7, is it?”
This week, they’ve got about 412 ounces, bringing the season total to 1,669 ounces — that’s quite a bit of money.
Parker Schnabel’s Sign-off
“Okay, ladies and gentlemen, I’m Parker Schnabel, and you’re watching Discovery Australia! Hit subscribe now to not miss out on any Gold Rush content.”
