Parker Schnabel Makes Major Move as Rick Ness Takes Big Gamble

Warning: The below contains spoilers for Gold Rush Season 15, Episode 16.]

It’s has been go big or go home for the miners on Gold Rush. For Parker Schnabel, that meant acquiring more land including Sulfur Creek. A move which seems to have initially paid off out of the gate. 

Elsewhere, Rick Ness has taken a massive gamble of his own in what could be his last season at Duncan Creek if he can’t secure a water license. He bet 400 of the 900 ounces generated at his cash cow of Rally Valley on his new cut dubbed Vegas Valley. There could be upwards of $2 million within those grounds or nothing at all. 

Then there is Kevin Beets, who decided to break off from his dad Tony. The eldest son of Tony Beets and new mine boss was met with a series of unfortunate events since the season started. Despite all the setbacks, his operation at Scribner Creek finally got some sluicing. With nearly $2 million of his life savings poured in so far of making this venture a success, he continues to work toward his 1,000-ounce goal this year. 

Let’s unpack how the three did for the week chronicled in the February 21 episode. 

Parker Schnabel 

After one week at Sulfur Creek working through the pre-stripped ground for fast gold, there was not much left to do at the moment there Schnabel, always thinking and planning, hatched a new plan to move upstream with eyes on red gravel at the middle of the cut there. It has never been sluiced before, but Schnabel believed there could be upwards of $1.5 million in the spot.  He enlisted the help of Tyson Lee once again to move the wash plant Big Red for the job. New hire Cole Anderson had the arduous task of lending a hand. There were a few close calls with a loader slipping off a bit, but they were successful in getting Big Red to its latest home. 

It wasn’t all smooth sailing though with a hopper feeder tail drum that needed to be replaced. Without a backup, they were down for two days waiting on a new one. The crew put in the time to wash plant going before the night shift arrived. Schnabel adjusted his season goal from 10,000 to 8,000, but had done a few things to set him up for success next season as well.

In a nice moment, Chris Doumitt gifted a tag to Tatiana Costa for her dog Nacho as a token of gratitude for her work in the gold room. This week Schnabel ran two wash plants at Dominion Creek. The Bridge Cut worked for four days and delivered 136.50 ounces worth over $341,000. The red gravel run exceeded expectations. The Long Cut brought in another 285.10 worth more than $712,000. It was the cut’s best haul of the season so far. Things were looking up with Schnabel hoping to eventually get three plants going for bigger gains. 

Rick Ness

Rick Ness leaning out truck window, red truck. (Discovery Channel)

It was all about moving dirt and more dirt for the Ness crew. Time was of the essence with 160 feet of overburden to get through. The goal was to run 230 truck loads per day to even have a shot at this potential gold bonanza. To be efficient as possible, there was a system put in place with truck loads going downhill to dump overburden white other rock trucks drive uphill to cut fuel costs. There was a scary point where one truck flipped over near at the edge of what could have been a disastrous drop. To set the 34 ton vehicle back on its wheels, the crew used a 460 excavator and aimed to avoid damage that would cost thousands to fix. A delicate operation, but they managed to get the truck back on the road.

A rocky, rocky road. “Nothing but parking lot speed bumps,” Ryan Kent described it. He went as far as to describe it as “Hell on earth.” Ryan Kent. Another truck ran into another issue. Kent drained oil from the drop box and noticed a not so good color. He also found chunks of metal. Ness couldn’t afford to have a truck down. He invested $35,000 to get a new drop box installed for the vehicle. The repair and replacement job required the use of a crane. After seven days of nonstop trucking, the crew managed to move 1,890 loads, which was 290 more than their assigned target. That equated to 80,000 tons of dirt. In all, over two weeks they were able to get through 70-feet of overburden with another 90 to go before they could ever think of hitting pay. More work to be done. 

Kevin Beets

Kevin Beets looking at conveyor. (Discovery Channel)

With only 33 ounces into a 1,000-ounce goal, Beets decided to add a night shift to get a jump on the gold. Those precious hours of keeping the wash plant running could make all the difference. He put newcomer Kayden Foot, who brings five years experience, on the job. The solo assignment meant feeding pay dirt into the hopper and clearing tailings every eight minutes. This was easier said than done with half his shift done in relative darkness. Being alone, also meant making decisions on his own and working while also keeping an eye out for wildlife. Things looked to be going well until about 5 a.m., toward the end of his shift. Foot noticed no material coming out. He rushed to the conveyor, which had broken down. 

He called for help. Beets investigated and found the hopper belt was split. Making matters worse, there was 12 tons of dirt blocking the hopper. The day crew had to spend a lot of their time shoveling it all out. After 16 hours, the space was cleared and the hopper belt feeder was fixed. Thankfully, Foot’s second night shift was less eventful. Hunter Canning took over next and ran into delays of her own. It was another jam, but the crew was able to alleviate the issue with less than an hour of downtime. Beets sat down to weighing to see if all the hard work translated into a nice gold haul. The result for offspring of the “King of the Klondike” was 122.4 ounces, worth $306,000. Beets’ decision to run overnight proved to be the right one quadrupling his last effort. He still had a long way to go, but this was surely a small win for him. 

Gold Rush, Fridays, 8/7c, Discovery