This week on "Gold Rush," Todd Hoffman is without a claim for next year, so he explores Oregon for a possible answer to his problem in an episode aptly titled, "Oregon Gold." Todd explains that finding a new claim is “Really do or die for us,” but he doesn't let his crew know how desperate the situation is. Todd explains that his crew could be without jobs next year if a new claim isn't found. The mine he is checking out is known for chunky nuggets, but Todd is not the only miner interested in the land. The Hoffman crew meets with two brothers who show them big chunky gold, which leads Todd to proclaim that it's some of the best nuggets he has ever seen.
No overburden and explosive potential
The High Bar Gold Mine owners tell Todd that he drove in on and is standing in pay dirt as the area has no overburden. Because the potential is so explosive, Hunter, Freddy and Todd grab metal detectors and begin their search for gold. Freddy and Todd argue about the validity of the mine after Hunter finds a gold and quartz nugget, with Freddy reminding Todd of their failure in Guyana. Todd clearly has gold fever, but cooler heads prevail when Freddy insists they bring in a test plant to mine 100 yards and find out exactly what they can expect from the ground.
Near the end of the episode, Dave Turin shows up for the results and they clean up their test run.
Freddy Dodge initially picks some choice nuggets out of the sluice box and then they get to hand panning the gold for their results. The 100 yards produced 1.7 ounces of gold and they estimate the ground is worth around $13 dollars a yard. Based on the excellent results, Todd hopes to negotiate a lease on the land and the crew packs up to finish their season back in the Klondike.
Back at the Klondike, Tony Beets struggles
Tony Beets is in trouble with only around half of his million dollar dredge investment reclaimed by gold dredging this season. 20 year old drill maps eventually point Gene and Tony to a new piece of his property where he expects to find an ounce for every 100 yards mined, so they take the dredge north and hope to double or triple their gold production.
Tony needs his last 3 cleanups to have 130 ounces each to pay for his dredge, but his first is only 43 ounces, $47,000 worth of gold. The drill holes failed to deliver him a pay streak which leads Tony to declare, “We’re in trouble.”
Parker moves his operation to better ground
Parker's crew moves his wash plant to a new pad, but after 10 hours the job isn’t done, which causes a shift in his temper when he shows up late and makes a scene. Despite Parker's bad attitude, his crew digs in to get the job done. The biggest challenge was a 50 foot slope to the pad, but Parker directs his crew in the final moments and Goldzilla is finally moved to it’s new home.They miss the 12 hour deadline for the job to be done, but decide to call it a night and return to the project in the morning, leading the mine boss to declare, “This is new and improved Parker.”
It snowed overnight, which made things difficult the next morning, but Parker’s crew got everything connected and hooked up water to the plant before Parker even shows up for work.
Although it's 19 hours since the job began, 7 hours past the optimal deadline, the plant was finally operational and ready to sluice pay dirt. It's claimed that Parker lost $70,000 in gold over the three shifts he was not sluicing. With only three cleanups left to attain his 3,000 ounce season goal, Parker needs 266 ounces a week to make it. After Parker thanked his crew and apologized for his short temper, he reveals that the first cleanup with the wash plant in it's new spot earned them a 388 ounce week worth $425,000, his second best of the season.
