[narrator] A new breed of super
machines is evolving. Bigger,
faster, smarter, built to tackle
near impossible feats. Among
them: the world's largest Mega
Truck.
>> Wow! Here we go!
[narrator] A fleet of these
super intelligent machines
battle hostile conditions
in America's highest
production goldmine.
>> They're a two-story house
driving around on wheels.
[narrator] Hauling 300,000 tons
of rock a day to uncover
a fortune in gold.
>> Bringing on that gold.
Mmm, bling, bling!
[narrator] We'll blow this
5.5-million-dollar beast apart
to discover technological
secrets that overcome the
impossible. An engine with
the power of a freight train.
(grinding metal)
Super-grip tires as tall
as two men...
And survival systems
for the toughest climates.
We'll reveal how this
extraordinary Mega Truck evolved
to rise above all other
machines.
[narrator] In Nevada's high
desert plains sits Cortez Hills
Mine, producer of more gold
a year than anywhere else in
America.
(buzz of machines)
It's one of the most extreme
working environments on the
planet, with temperatures
climbing upwards of 110 degrees.
In 2012, workers blasted....
>> And we are ready to fire.
(explosion)
[narrator]:...dug...
and ground down...
>> Everything's looking good,
let's keep going!
[narrator]...120 million tons
of rock to extract 2.3 billion
dollars worth of gold.
That's the weight of three
buses! At the heart of the
operation, an elite crew of
extreme truckers.
>> Alright, let's get started!
[narrator] Calling the shots,
Pit Supervisor Dan Bunner.
>> Today's probably not going to
be like any other day. We're
going to haul off the top of the
mountain. We're going to have
heat and I would imagine wind
later on. If we get in a dusty
situation, make sure we shut ¢em
down.
[narrator] Over the next five
days, and in soaring
temperatures, Dan needs his
truck crew to haul 180,000 tons
of rock and hit a target of
40 million dollars of gold.
>> OK, that's it, have a good
day. Be safe.
[narrator] For ordinary trucks,
this goal on this deadline,
under these conditions would be
mission impossible. So the mine
will fire up 260 tons of metal
muscle...
The Liebherr T284: 26 feet tall,
this 5.5-million-dollar colossus
is a new super breed of haul
truck, the largest on the
planet.
(grinding metal)
Built from 50,000 thousand
components.
(grinding metal)
This flagship of the Cortez
Hills fleet is at the pinnacle
of truck design.
Her 4,000-horsepower engine has
the pull of a freight train.
At full capacity... her
3-megawatt generator could
light up a whole town.
On her back, the dump bed can
carry up to 400 tons,
the weight of a Jumbo Jet.
This Mega Truck was built
for just one purpose: hauling
more rock than any other
machine.
Taming 30 of these beasts will
take the mine's most seasoned
truckers.
>> Alright, let's go! Gotta do a
walk-around, first thing.
[narrator] Meet one of the best:
>> I basically have to trust
this truck with my life and the
fact that everything's working,
to take care of me. In this area
here, I'm looking for any kind
of hydraulic leaks, oil leaks.
These tires can take a lot of
beating but they're potentially
an explosion waiting to happen.
If you're too close when one of
these things goes, you're done.
[narrator] As the clock starts
on the crew's 40-million-dollar
mission, Alice needs all the
help she can get.
>> Ladder's up. Just about
everything on this truck is
computerized.
(beeping)
I feel like I've always got a
babysitter. She's my girl. I'm
more of her puppet though!
(honking)
And we are off and running.
We are off to the
top of the world.
(beeping)
Yeehaw!
[narrator] The fleet of Mega
Trucks haul rock from giant
excavators, clawing their way
down through the mountain to
reach gold ore buried deep
below. But until they get to it,
the truck crew must haul
thousands of tons of waste rock
out of the way.
>> All we're doing is basically
eating the mountain up.
[narrator] Alice's first
challenge: Climb 1,000 feet to
the mine's highest excavator.
Navigating busy roads from
her cab 20 feet in the air
is treacherous.
>> Visibility in these trucks
is next to nil. You're in
a 2-story house on wheels.
This time of the morning we've
got all kinds of small vehicles,
small pickups, floating around
or flying all over the place.
It does make me very nervous,
because I can't see them at all
on that side. They could be
right next to me and I wouldn't
know it.
>> If a truck runs over a
pickup, chances are nobody
survives in it.
02 to 289, Alice.
>> Go ahead.
>> When it's clear to pass,
would you let me know, please?
>> OK. Dan, you're clear,
go around.
>> OK, I'm coming around.
>> His truck is a pretty
decent-size truck but
I could still squish him.
The blind spots are monstrous.
[narrator] Alice needs all the
visibility she can get,
but conditions ahead will make
the driving even more difficult.
>> I don't like the look of this
road. We've already got a dust
problem.
[narrator] Windstorms whip up
dust, creating one of the
deadliest obstacles in mining
for drivers and trucks.
>> Oh, nuts. What is going on
over here?
There's times when you can't see
the mountains in front of you.
The dust gets that bad.
>> Dust isn't good for equipment
or people. It fills up air
filters, it can fill up your
lungs. It's not good for
anything.
[narrator] Dan's crew uses water
to suppress the dust clouds. But
high on the mountain, Alice's
truck needs its own defence
against the choking air.
>> Come on, baby girl!
[narrator] If dust penetrates
the engine, it will clog and
kill its beating heart...
...which must suck in 50,000
gallons of clean air
every minute...
to feed combustion inside
its 20 cylinders.
So, to keep the air in the
combustion chambers squeaky
clean...
♪♪
the Mega Truck's design borrows
from nature's most powerful dust
busters:
Tornadoes!
Funnels of fast-spinning air
that grow out of thunderclouds.
They wreak destruction
when they hit the ground,
ripping up everything
in their path...
spinning it high into the air
and flinging it back out again.
But incredibly, the eye of the
storm remains dust-free.
And that's exactly where the air
comes from, feeding Alice's
truck. It breathes through cones
that have tiny tornadoes
churning inside.
They fling the dust against the
sides, so the air in the centre
stays clean.
450 tubes channel clean air
from the eye of each tornado
into the engine.
The dust simply drops out
at the bottom, meaning Alice's
truck can breathe freely.
>> There you go. We made it.
Welcome to the top of the World.
Look at that view!
[narrator] After a dusty trek,
Alice reaches her first
loading stop.
Now she's at the mercy of the
mine's biggest excavator.
>> Once we get this ballet of
ours completed, then I get to
have a whole bunch of rock
dropped on me.
He's loading out some pretty
bony material.
[narrator] Even the world's
biggest mine trucks are dwarfed
by Larry Thompson's excavator.
Able to lift 120 tons in every
scoop, this shovel demands
respect.
>> Basically what we're doing
out here is tearing down a
mountain, and building another.
We can move upwards of over a
million yards of dirt in a day.
I wouldn't want to do it with a
pickaxe. This machine's really
got the potential to hurt
somebody.
[narrator] In a risky manoeuvre,
Alice needs to back alongside
the shovel to collect her first
payload.
>> Let me try to get back
in here.
[narrator] These machines are
the size of two-story buildings.
A metal-on-metal collision
could be disastrous.
>> The blind side of the truck
is the side I can't see. Makes
it more of a challenge.
>> Hey Alice, keep coming
straight back.
>> Ten-four, will do.
I can't see.
>> Easy!
[narrator] Cortez Hills Gold
Mine, Nevada. Thirty Mega Trucks
have five days to haul
180,000 tons of rock and hit a
40-million-dollar gold target.
>> Hey Alice, keep coming
straight back.
>> Ten-four, will do.
[narrator] In a meeting of metal
giants, Alice backs her house-
sized Mega Truck alongside the
monster shovel to collect her
first load of rock.
>> That's what it's like!
(siren wailing)
That's kind of what it feels
like to have the bucket hit you.
Just kind of knocks you around
a little bit.
(sighing)
>> That one was close! Ha! Ha!
[narrator] A 100-ton load would
flatten most trucks, but this is
no ordinary truck.
(grinding metal)
Under its dump bed sit two
weapons to cushion the blow.
(whirring)
Gigantic shock absorbers.
(clanking)
These metal cylinders evolved
from landing gear used in
aircrafts.
(propeller whirring)
Early wooden planes
grew so heavy...
(tires screeching)
that the simple springs in their
landing gear took a pounding on
touchdown.
So engineers invented...
shock absorbers, hollow
cylinders filled with
compressed air and oil.
The air cushions like a spring,
the oil stops the cylinders
bouncing back, absorbing the
crushing impact of landing.
The shock absorbers on Alice's
truck take this idea to the
extreme.
(clanking)
Seven gallons of nitrogen and 10
gallons of a top-secret oil...
wrapped in a toughened steel
casing can cushion the impact
of a Jumbo Jet.
Four hundred tons of rock
compresses the cylinder
by just 8 inches.
(clanking)
>> 428 tons. That's a good load.
Thanks Larry, you have
a good day.
>>Ten-four Alice.
>> And we've got lift off.
[narrator] Alice now faces
a mile of rough road to reach
the dump zone.
Packed with a 428-ton payload,
she can only hope her truck's
shock absorbers are up to the
challenge.
(whirring)
>> This gets really bumpy
sometimes. Knocks your socks
off!
[narrator] The journey to build
the ultimate shock absorber
began 2,500 miles east of the
mine at the factory where these
Mega Trucks are built.
Here, engineers test components
to destruction and the shock
absorbers undergo the most
brutal field trial of all.
>> Our trucks are in some of the
most extreme environments in the
world and also carrying some of
the biggest payloads that you'll
see. So this is a real critical
step for us to determine if
we've made something that's
going to survive in the
environment we've put it into.
>> We have two bumps set up on
the right hand side of the
truck, which will twist the
entire truck and will try to
roll it.
(honking)
>> Alright Jay, we're good down
here, it's in your hands.
>> Yes, sir.
(motor running)
Here we go!
There's the first bump, going to
the second bump...
There, we're finally through.
>> Yeah, that was a good one.
>> I'll try and hit 15 or 16
this time, and she'll fly!
>> Yeah, ten-four, hang on.
>> Never done it
at this speed before.
>> Alright, hold her steady and
give her hell.
>> Woohoo, there she goes!
You had her rocking and rolling
that time, Jay. I think the data
will be good for that one.
[narrator] This truck's shock
absorbers have proved tough
enough to take a full load
over the roughest terrain.
>> I think that'll do, Jay.
(honking)
[narrator] 2,500 miles west in
Nevada, Alice is on her way down
the mountain road to the dump
zone. It's a treacherous trek.
>> It's over a thousand feet
down, quite a long drop.
[narrator] The hairpin bends
make cornering extra tough.
>> This is the sharpest corner
coming up. It can get pretty
hairy sometimes.
[narrator] Alice's truck has
unique front suspension to help
her tackle these turns.
(clanking)
Two arms shaped like wishbones
suspend each wheel from the
frame...
(whirring)
and hold them in perfect
alignment as they bounce
up and down...
keeping the rubber on the road
as the truck leans into the
corner.
>> Flying by the seat
of my pants, whoops!
She takes it like a
thoroughbred. 670 tons rolling
down this hill. She's hanging on
to it like a dream.
[narrator] Load one:
down the mountain.
But this rock contains no gold.
Until the excavators strike gold
ore, Alice will dump hauls of
waste rock over a cliff. The
only thing stopping her truck
sliding down this 100-foot drop
is a mound of earth called a
"berm."
>> You back up to your berm
pretty slow.
[narrator] Every driver knows a
mistake here can be fatal.
>> I have heard stories of
people going through berms.
From what I've heard, they
usually don't make it
through the process.
And then just kiss the berm.
Alright! There we go, I got it.
Ha! Ha!
(garbled radio transmission)
OK. And we're set, let's dump.
There goes my load:
428 tons of material.
[narrator] First load dumped.
Alice must now pick up the pace
to haul another 15 truckfulls
of waste rock within the next
10 hours.
>> We're booking it. They're
keeping the shovel swinging, so
hopefully we'll get to the ore
soon.
[narrator] To keep the
excavators and the trucks fed
with rock, the mine calls in
the heavy artillery.
>> Tim, we're ready to run our
fire line out. Take it about
200 feet, please.
No blast team, no production,
no one's moving.
[narrator] The blast team drills
130 holes, 45 feet down into the
rock, lowers in detonators...
and pumps in an explosive mix
of fertilizer and diesel fuel.
>> Our basic goal is to lift it,
break it and set it right back
where it started.
[narrator] The truck fleet pulls
back to safety, half a mile from
the blast zone.
Alice has been at the wheel
for seven hours.
>> Taking a break. And I
actually get a shot of the blast
today. That'll be quite nice.
Then I get to move it all.
(man on radio): We have three
minutes until fire in the hole
(siren wailing)
[narrator] Countdown underway,
the mine goes into lockdown.
>> 150 dets ready to fire.
(man on radio): Ten-four.
[narrator] Half a million tons
of rock is about to fly.
(man on radio): Firing shot one
in phase five.
(explosion)
(man on radio): We have three
minutes until fire in the hole
(siren wailing)
[narrator] At the wheel of her
Mega Truck, Alice Woods has
moved over 5,500 tons of rock in
seven hours. Now the blast team
is about to free up
a whole lot more.
(siren wailing)
>> 150 dets ready to fire.
(man on radio): Ten-four.
Firing shot one in phase five.
Shot one has fired.
>> Shot two has fired.
(explosion)
(garbled radio transmission)
>> That was pretty cool.
A lot more material to move.
>> That is close
to 550,000 tons.
(honking)
Keep those shovels mucking and
those trucks rolling.
(explosion)
[narrator] Under half a million
tons of freshly blasted rock
lies a priceless pocket of gold
ore. Before her week is done,
Alice must move it.
>> Bringing on that gold.
Mmm, bling, bling!
[narrator] 48 hours into
Alice's five-day mission.
It's 105 degrees, the mercury's
rising and so are the stakes,
with only three days left to
uncover 40 million dollars
worth of gold.
>> Phew, it's a hot one today.
(sighing)
[narrator] Today she starts
hauling gold ore. It looks
identical to waste rock, but
confusing the two up is not an
option because each truckload
of ore could be worth well
over $100,000.
>> Dispatch to all Cortez Hills
traffic. We just moved into an
ore body, so watch your
assignments.
>> Well, it looks like we're
finally getting into some ore
and this one is the money-maker.
(garbled radio transmission)
And we actually get to go
someplace different.
[narrator] The blasters
uncovered the new seam of gold
ore in the giant pit beneath the
mountain. But the only access
is down a steep new road.
>> One of the issues with the
new road is that we've got quite
a steep grade on it. We don't
want them sliding into the pit,
we want them driving
into the pit.
First couple guys in are always
the leaders of the pack,
I guess you can say.
>> Wow, here we go!
[narrator] Yet to be flattened
by the weight of trucks, the
road surface is strewn with
loose rock.
>> Driving on a new road is
usually a hellaciously bumpy
experience. There's usually a
little puckeridge and you're
kind of going yoohoo, yeah!
[narrator] Alice is banking
on the truck's 13-foot tall
tires to grip the steep slope.
(clanking metal)
They have a revolutionary
tread imprinted deep
into the rubber...
giving grip on even the
steepest, roughest roads.
They owe their existence
to more than a century
of tire evolution.
Early vehicles had
smooth rubber tires,
but their lack of grip
proved disastrous.
(screeching tires)
(meowing)
The solution mimics
Mother Nature.
Cats are nimble
even on slippery surfaces,
thanks to an intricate
pattern in their paws.
The soft pads and deep
grooves between them create
unbeatable grip.
Alice's truck supersizes
this feline footprint.
♪♪
The grooves running through its
tires are as wide as a fist.
As a defence mechanism, they
even clean themselves.
The weight of the truck squashes
the rubber, squeezing out any
small stones that get trapped
in the tread, protecting the
truck on the roughest roads.
>> They're monstrous,
they're magnificent.
They're just really neat.
[narrator] The Mega Truck's
tires may be tough,
but they're not invincible.
>> See those rocks on the side
of the road over there, you
don't want to get into those.
Those can bust a tire.
[narrator] The tires can spit
out small stones, but large
rocks can explode them open.
>> When tires on these trucks
blow, it's like an earthquake.
We were told during training
about a man who was killed in a
big truck like this.
His tire blew right underneath
him and it blew to where the
pressure came up through the cab
and it killed him.
[narrator] The mine has an army
of mechanics working around the
clock to keep its fleet of
thirty Mega Trucks running
safely on the road. A tire
change for this truck is no
split-second pit stop.
>> Spin the tire for me.
>> Yup. Urgh!
[narrator] They change each tire
after 85,000 miles.
>> Yeah!
[narrator] If it exploded now,
the force could blast this
mechanic over 300 feet
through the air.
>> We have to deflate the tire
before we work on it, so
everything can be compressed in
and we can disassemble.
[narrator] Removing this
five-ton piece of rubber
takes a special tool.
>> Go ahead and grab it, Jake.
[narrator] The tire handler.
Its giant pincers squeeze the
deflated tire, so the crew can
force it off with a pneumatic
ram.
>> All right, get back, Vince.
(whirring)
[narrator] Each new tire
costs up to $70,000.
>> He has five tons in the air
and as you can see I'm standing
back to make sure if he does
lose control of it, I'm not
going to get squashed.
There's a lot of pieces. It's
like a puzzle and you just got
to fit the pieces together
properly.
One, two, three!
>> All right, I'm going turn
the air on and it's hopefully
just going to take air.
Yeah, it's a ticking time bomb
once it's pretty much loaded.
[narrator] On the steep road
into the pit, if Alice's tires
lose their shape, they will lose
their grip.
So, buried under their thick
skin is a gigantic web of wires,
two layers deep.
There's enough steel
to build two small cars.
And it's wrapped in enough
rubber to make 600 car tires.
Each of these monsters
can carry over 110 tons
and still keep their shape.
>> Aw, nuts. Got a water truck
right in front of me. She's
gonna make it nice and slimy.
[narrator] As Alice nears the
bottom of the steep pit road,
the mine's dust dousing water
trucks will test her tires
once more.
>> Ew, that's slick!
Fishtailing.
The front tires are not going as
fast as the back ones want to
go.
Oh no, and I am sliding!
And... sliding.
Sliding.
Coming in a little bit too close
to that water truck. Come on,
baby, grab, grab, grab!
[narrator] Cortez Hills Gold
Mine, Nevada. The fleet of Mega
Trucks is three days into their
five-day-40-million-dollar
mission to haul 180,000 tons of
rock. On the steep road into the
pit to collect her first payload
of ore, driver Alice needs her
truck tires to grip the wet
slope... fast.
>> Come on, baby. Getting a
little bit too close to that
water truck.
Almost didn't make that one!
(sighing)
Phew! Made it to the bottom!
What side would you like me
to go on?
(man on radio): The one up
on your left.
(garbled radio transmission)
>> He's just loading me up
with a whole bunch of money.
[narrator] This 400-ton load of
high-grade ore could contain as
much as 100 ounces of gold.
(honking)
Worth around $130,000.
Alice now faces the mine's
steepest ascent to deliver it
to the mill.
>> Go ahead for dispatch.
[narrator] Supervisors keep
an eagle eye on every payload
of ore.
>> The stakes are high where our
trucks go. One of my jobs is to
make sure that these guys are
going where they need to go.
If I have a driver that loses
a load of ore, it can be
a firing offence.
>> If you've got ore on, you
don't want to spill any.
They don't like that.
You just can't lose power when
you're doing it. You got to keep
your pedal to the metal and keep
going.
[narrator] Her job on the line,
Alice can't risk losing any ore.
She needs the truck's massive
engine to thrust her smoothly
up the hill.
Its 20 cylinders guzzle
100 gallons of diesel an hour.
And 300 violent explosions
happen every second.
To store the 4,000
horsepower they produce,
the engine is attached
to an enormous flywheel.
Amazingly, this wheel's design
has its roots in ancient Egypt.
Egyptian builders used flint
drills to shape the stone blocks
of the pyramids.
But the hand-cranked tools
were slow and inefficient.
So Egyptian engineers attached a
weight to the top of the drill.
This stored energy to drive
the drill with constant power.
4,500 years later, a souped-up
version of this primitive
invention...
...transfers the engine's
explosive power...
to drive a 3-megawatt
electric generator.
(clanking)
It creates enough power to run
a small town...
...and spins electric motors
deep in the wheel hubs.
This gives Alice full throttle
the second she puts her foot
down, even on the mine's
steepest hill.
(clanking metal)
>> Come on, baby,
let's get out of here!
[narrator] At the Mega Truck
factory in Virginia...
>> We're good.
[narrator] Installing the
machine's engine is a huge feat.
It weighs over 11 tons,
as much as six SUVS.
>> All right, I'm hooked up.
[narrator] And it costs
over half a million dollars.
>> A little nervous. When it's
in the frame, I feel a lot
better. It's a little too much
weight here!
[narrator] Dropping this hunk of
horsepower just isn't
an option.
>> Everybody watch your fingers!
And we're down. Good job,
everybody. Another job
well done!
>> Good job!
>> Good job, good job!
[narrator] At the mine, her
truck's engine powers Alice up
the hill onto level ground...
but there's no mill in sight.
>> Oh, you know what, I'm going
the wrong way...
(garbled radio transmission)
I'm going the wrong way.
Pulling a u'ey... Whoops!
Pulling a u'ey, I muffed up,
I'm going the wrong way.
(laughing)
Go back the way I came!
[narrator] 400 tons of gold ore
delivered and not an ounce lost
on the way.
>> Could be a lot of money
in that one.
There will be a lot of money
in that one.
[narrator] At the mill, the ore
needs crushing and processing to
extract the gold. To succeed in
this week's mission, Alice and
the truck team need to deliver
another 100,000 tons of ore
in the next 48 hours.
>> Mercy, it's getting hot!
[narrator] But with the heat
soaring upwards of 105 degrees,
the whole mine is now
on fire alert...
>> Every liquid in that truck
will burn.
[narrator] At Cortez Hills Gold
Mine, Nevada, Mega Truck driver
Alice Woods has clocked up
400 miles in four days and
hauled 18,000 tons of gold ore.
>> Going to head on in and fill
her up. She's thirsty, we'll be
here for a short bit.
[narrator] Her truck burns
through a 1,200-gallon tank of
fuel twice every day.
>> The diesel fuel is pumping
into this truck at 120 gallons a
minute, about like you'd be
pumping into a jet plane when
it's fuelling before take off.
You do the math! Four dollars a
gallon at 1,200 gallons? It'll
be $4,000 at 1,000 gallons even,
that's quite a bit of change
right there.
>> I certainly hope we get a
break in this weather. This over
a 100 degree weather is
sweltering. I'm having a hard
time dealing with it.
[narrator] This heat is a threat
to the whole mine. If the
trucks' massive tires get too
hot, the friction can start a
fire, which could spread fast.
>> Every liquid in that truck
will burn. Since this mine has
started we've had two haul
trucks that have burned
to the ground.
Luckily nobody got hurt in
either one of them. But it
doesn't take very long to burn
them to the ground.
>> It's just amazing how much
heat these things produce, and a
fire would be the last thing you
would hope to have to deal with.
[narrator] But Alice's truck
is on constant fire alert
so she doesn't have to be.
(clanking metal)
[narrator] Under its skin, 330
feet of stainless steel pipes
act as life-saving arteries.
They connect to tanks of
fire-fighting powder.
High-pressure nitrogen canisters
are poised to blast the powder
to 36 high precision nozzles
sitting in every corner
of the truck.
It's a giant network of chemical
sprinklers that evolved from
the world's first automated
fire-fighting system,
invented in 1723:
the Fire Annihilator.
A capsule filled with gunpowder
was suspended in a barrel of
water and connected to heat
sensitive fuses.
Any fire would light
the fuses, which would ignite
the gunpowder and blast
the water onto the flames.
300 hundred years later,
the Mega Truck swaps gunpowder
for nitrogen, but it still has
fire-sensing fuses.
Excessive heat triggers
a mechanism inside them
that shoots the fire-fighting
powder at high pressure to all
the truck's potential hotspots.
It's a system clever enough
to kill almost any fire.
>> I feel like sometimes my baby
girl is watching out for me a
little bit. I just feel like
she's watching my back.
[narrator] Safety protocols call
for regular fire drills across
the 30-strong fleet.
>> You take the one tank,
you take the second tank.
[narrator] $16,000 worth
of fire suppressant powder
must be set to shoot in seconds.
>> This is life and death.
We need these systems to work
properly so these drivers
can get out and get back
on the ground safely.
>> These trucks can burn very
quickly. You have a lot of heat
and a lot of possibility of
things catching on fire in the
engine compartment.
Could be a firebomb on this
thing. This is your main area
that, if there's going to be a
fire, this is where it's going
to be.
[narrator] To test this truck...
>> You ready, Taylor?
>> Yeah, go ahead!
[narrator] They warm up one of
the heat sensitive fuses to
trick the system into thinking
there's an engine fire.
(siren wailing)
Driver Doug has just 15 seconds
to evacuate.
(siren wailing)
>> Alright, guys,
moment of truth, here we go!
>> Lots of chemical, woo!
>> That's definitely going to
knock the fire down on that one.
No questions asked there.
>> Good job!
>> Good job, Taylor. 240 lbs of
chemical laying on the ground.
>> Yup. Glad I don't have
to clean that up!
[narrator] Tests like these...
help Alice complete her mission
in the searing heat.
>> My truck's run smoothly this
whole week. Pride of the fleet
and she's doing really well.
[narrator] After 60 hours
at the wheel, she has hauled
23,000 tons of precious ore.
>> Last load of the day.
We're heading to the barn.
All 30 trucks head in,
their jobs complete.
But inside the refinery, it's
crunch time. A team must now
extract the gold.
>> Hey Tony, you're going to be
ready in about an hour?
(muffled response)
[narrator] It's the critical
final step, a process called
smelting. The team crushes the
ore into a fine powder, mixes it
with chemicals and heats it
to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
>> We like to run between 20,000
and 30,000 ounces per week.
At 30,000 ounces, that's
about 40 million dollars
at today's price.
[narrator] Will this week's haul
by Alice and her team
meet their quota?
>> This is an exciting time
because this is where all the
culmination of all the work
comes together and we actually
see the net result.
We never get tired of seeing the
gold, it's beautiful!
It looks like this bar's
valued at $1,065,252.
[narrator] They've hit their
target: 180,000 tons of ore has
produced 40 million dollars
of gold.
>> It takes a hell of a lot of
rock to produce this amount of
gold.
[narrator] Thanks to Alice and
the truck crew, Cortez Hills
retains its title of America's
biggest gold producer
for another week.
>> Bye, Alice!
>> Bye, Craig!
We did really well. So I'm going
to head home for four days off
and then come back and do it
all over again! I'm going
to sleep first.
[narrator] But there's no rest
for Alice's Mega Truck. This
fleet of mighty machines
haul rock 24/7.
Every year, each truck moves 3,5
million tons across 70,000 miles
of the very toughest terrain.
It's all thanks to shock
absorbers strong enough
to land a jumbo jet.
(clanking)
A life-saving
fire-fighting system.
Five-ton, super-grip tires,
an engine as powerful
as a freight train,
which is fed with air cleaned
by mini tornadoes.
It's these technological secrets
that have helped this truck
evolve to rise above all other
machines.
Subtitling: Epilogue Technical Services