Members of Tony Beets’ Crew Defect to Parker Schnabel

One of the biggest challenges the miners of Discovery Channel’s Gold Rush have faced this season isn’t the incessant equipment breakdowns. Instead, it’s personnel problems, with team members jumping ship to other crews. The latest defections came at the start of Friday’s (February 20) episode when seven from Tony Beets went over to mine boss Parker Schnabel. 

Tony took the news from Cousin Mike the way you would expect: “I don’t give a f****. It must have been my shining personality,” he said. The “King of the Klondike” then proceeded to call them a “bunch of weasels.” The Beets family moved forward, looking to the $16 million in the box so far. 

Parker also put pressure on his employees, coming off $22 million banked. However, those numbers have been slipping, having just experienced his weakest gold weight of the season. Parker has been pouring $100,000 a day to run four wash plants. So getting on the gold was key. Was the 31-year-old able to turn things around and make full use of his new additions? Read on to find out. 

Tony Beets

With gold prices soaring, Tony planned to take full advantage and just had his biggest weekly gold weigh of 672 ounces. He eyed another payday like this by the end of this week. Cousin Mike was tasked with keeping the wash plants going with two in the Corner Cut, Sluice-A-Lot, and Find-A-Lot. That was easier said than done, thanks to recent staff losses, leaving an inexperienced crew. Among them is Darian Dennis, who was given added responsibility. Troubling sounds came from the plant, and colleague Meghan Roberts went to investigate. Cousin Mike was mad that Darian let it go so long before stopping the plant. 

Tony rushed over in his truck to look into the situation. The impact bed had fallen into the plant, smashing up the whole top shaker deck. Tony called the manufacturing rep and recommended he take the top deck completely out and replace it. They’d have to rebuild the whole plant. Making matters worse, the crew had to wait on a part to come before even doing the job. The downtime would cost around $190,000 in lost production. With Sluice-A-Lot down, it was up to Find-A-Lot to bring in some money. Tony decided to go for the bigger payday potential by working through jagged bedrock. He was willing to risk the sharp rocks damaging the wash plant. There was a jam, but thankfully it was only less than an hour of being down. 

The hits kept on coming for Tony. At Paradise Hill, it was one issue after another as son Mike worked to get the Trommel running all season. The crew there dug a feeder pond and installed a new pump, but the Trommel ran into problems with water pipes. Tony received good news that the piece came in for Sluice-A-Lot. The new shaker deck was installed after six days and more than a million dollars in potential loss. Darian got a second chance to prove himself. The family came together for their weigh-in. Sluice-A-Lot generated 45.58 ounces worth $150,000 after running for 24 hours. Find-A-Lot ran bedrock, which paid off to the tune of 237.68 ounces worth more than $830,000. The Beets family was back on track. 

Parker Schnabel

Parker Schnabel (Discovery Channel)

Pit one at the Ken and Stuart’s area was just about mined out with a second pit twice the size that needed to be done by the end of the season. With so much to get through at all his sites, Parker welcomed the new crew that came from Tony’s side. Those defectors enjoyed their more welcoming environment, less name calling,  and not having to walk on eggshells. Parker also worked under Tony for a number of years and perhaps knew where they were coming from. Not everyone was excited for the new recruits. Evan Kurtz was annoyed that they were preventing others from moving up. 

Rick Raymond was hired three days prior and tasked with feeding Sluicifer. He caused Sluicifer’s super stacker to get jammed. The generator surging and smoke coming from the machinery caused a shutdown on Rick’s watch. The crew nailed down the problems and went back to washing rocks, but not before foreman Tyson Lee took Rick off the job. Back at Indian River, fellow foreman Mitch Blaschke had to race to get sluicing in pit two of Ken & Stuart’s to increase their weekly goal. This meant the crew had to move wash plant Roxanne quickly.

They first had to build a road that connected the two pads. After four years running in trucks and loaders, Evan was given the opportunity to work in an excavator. Mitch appreciated how Evan stepped up and handled the equipment. After getting the dirt compacted and firm enough to make the wash plant move, the team accomplished its mission. Pit  2 was ready for sluicing just in time for the night crew to arrive. 

Parker met up with his close circle for the weekly weigh-in to see how they did. Roxanne’s last bit of the Old Cut at pit one pulled in 76.03 ounces, worth $266,000. Bob in the Bridge Cut added another 120.07 ounces worth $422,000. Sluicifer and Big Red at the Golden Mile generated 236.04 ounces, worth $822,000. Under normal circumstances, that would be quite the total. However, at this level and with a 10,000-ounce season goal to get to, it was a bit disappointing to see a drop in production for the second week in a row. Parker’s crew knew they needed to pick up the pace. 

Gold Rush, Fridays, 8/7c, Discovery Channel