This week on Gold Rush, Todd Hoffman and original crew-member Jim Thurber desperately try to find pockets of gold that could help transform their season.
After seven weeks at the Buckland claim, moving over 400,000 yards of dirt, Todd has only managed to find a measly 68 ounces of gold worth just $80,000.
Watch our exclusive clip below, as the two men set out to re-survey an area that has been mined previously.
“We need to find a pocket of something, Thur, see if Andy left any spots back here,” says Todd.
He then looks on as Jim pans the dirt using some stagnant water, but it comes up empty. Jim says: “Nothing in that stuff at all, not even a speck.”
Todd appears resigned that their luck has run out. With the remnants of his crew now at their lowest, he says morosely to the camera: “Weird not having the guys here…we are the last four original guys on my team and what it looks like is [we] started together, we’re going to finish together.”
The men then get excited after spotting some stream-born gravel appears. Could Andy and the crew have overlooked a potential paydirt situation?
Jim pans again and happens upon some potential gold, saying: “This is some better looking stuff.”
Todd says: “There is gold in here but it ain’t impressive. But it’s gold!”
This season Hoffman and his crew have consistently been dealt bad cards, along with claim and equipment set backs and plain old bad luck.
But is there good news around the corner?
Gold Rush airs Fridays at 9/8c on Discovery