‘Gold Rush’: Tony Beets Helps Son Kevin as Parker Is Desperate to Dig Out of Financial Hole (RECAP)

[Warning: The below contains spoilers for Gold Rush Season 15, Episode 10.]

This season of Gold Rush Parker Schnabel has been met with sheer disappointment at Dominion Creek. Going all in, the miner has been hemorrhaging money each week hoping for the tide to turn. Hope could come with the running of another wash plant running at Ken and Stuarts. 

Elsewhere, Kevin Beets has yet to get his first taste of the good stuff, looking to prove himself to dad Tony Beets. Speaking of the “King of the Klondike,” his operation has been full steam ahead with younger son Mike and nephew Mike at the helm. Let’s break down how these three crews ended up by the end of the January 10 episode. 

Parker Schnabel

Tyson Lee and Mike Tupper in conversation, washplant on lowboy in background. (Discovery Channel)

Schnabel simply needs more gold to come in. The 29-year-old has struggled for nine weeks into the season. He found himself already $2.5 million in the hole chasing Dominion Creek treasure. So far, he only banked just over a million. Wash plant Roxanne has been doing her thing at the Long Cut while Big Red has been running top gravel in the Bridge Cut. Looking to jumpstart the season, Schnabel sent a third wash plant Shaker Deck named Bob with an additional crew to Ken and Stuarts. The hope was to see 900 ounces after three weeks. This would put him at running three wash plants simultaneously, which is something he has never done before. Tyson Lee led the Bob transport along with mentor Mike Tucker. The 12-mile trek was a risky mission through unpredictable terrain. They were successful and meet up with 

They are successful and met up with Damien Browne at the destination to start feeding and sluicing.  Parker had a lot riding on Bob. Unfortunately, the crew discovered a rip in the belt. The ripped section must be replaced before it could run again. Activity went to halt. The crew rushed to repair Bob’s belt. With the three wash plants going, is it the turn they need? The Schnabel team came together to see if they made progress. Big Red weighed in at 58.85 ounces worth $147,000. Roxanne was up next with 185.65 ounces at $464,000. Bob ended at 58.45 ounces worth $146,000. The season total so far was 1,107 ounces. “It’s embarrassing,” Schnabel, nowhere near his 10,000-ounce goal for the season. The group found itself more in trouble. Schnabel remained optimistic at Dominion Creek’s prospects, but admitted to having a long road ahead. 

Kevin Beets 

Kevin Beets working with chains. (Discovery Channel)

Over at Scribner  Creek, Kevin was about a month behind where he wanted to be. He thought they would already be sluicing by now. The rookie mine boss wanted to get the pay out and with a wash plant up and running. Into nine weeks of the season, he hadn’t mined an ounce of gold. There was a light at the end of the tunnel with pay. His goal was to dig out frozen pay from the three acres of the Links Cut by the end of the week. Then let the sun thaw it before sluicing. To dig out the frozen pay quickly required a big dozer. The problem was his D10 was out of action after blowing its transition a month prior. Kevin’s foreman Brennan Ruault was forced to break up the pay with an excavator’s smaller ripper blade. Rock trucks were hauled to stockpile, but it was a slow and frustrating  process. 

Thankfully, the cavalry arrived in the form of Kevin’s parents Tony and Minnie. Kevin owed mom and dad 10 percent from leasing the land and was late on the first payment. Tony heard Kevin’s difficulties and offered to loan his $4 million D11 dozer, which would supercharge his progress. Dad would also have Kevin’s D10 fixed in the meantime. The “King of the Klondike” has a soft heart after all…or maybe just wanted his royalties. The equipment loan made  a massive difference in terms of morale. Kevin had to repair a rock truck, which was just another thing to endure. The end of the week Brennan returned the dozer after Kevin’s D10 was repaired. With a giant pile of pay, he is eyeing his first big win of the season.

Tony Beets

At Tony’s Indian Creek, he was already ahead of schedule. His younger son Mike at Paradise Hill has fired up the Trommel. At Indian River, Tony’s nephew Mike was sluicing with the Shaker Deck and Sir Sluice-A-Lot wash plants. Tony hoped to bank 369 ounces this week to get him  halfway to his goal of 2,500 ounces. For that, he needed both Mike’s to deliver. Feeding the 30-year-old Shaker Deck was newcomer Jacob Moore, who ran into issues. One of the conveyor belts had grizzly bars that stopped large rocks from getting into the wash plant and caused damage. The hydraulic pump to lift these bars to clear the rocks had failed, shutting the plant down. 

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Mike’s quick fix was to raise the grizzly’s conveyor out of the way and use an excavator to feed rocky pay on to the wash plant’s second conveyor. Mike decided the risk was worth the reward. The move backfired. Tony saw a disastrous situation. The Shaker Deck was shut down due to a ripped conveyer belt. Now the pressure was on Sluice-A-Lot and Trommel to make up for the equipment failure delays. Son Mike had issues of his own at Paradise Hill after water and gold rich pay splashed out of the prewash. The leak caused a mess with the potential of washing away gold. He located the rubber mat detached due to a broken bolt. The crew weld it back with some reinforcement. Son Mike’s operation was back up and running. 

The Beets family met for the gold weighing. First up was the Shaker Deck, which ran for half a day. It only gave 20.15 ounces worth more than $50,000. Next up was the Trommel at Paradise Hill. The results were better at 233.90 ounces worth $580,000. Lastly, was Indian River’s Sluice-A-Lot, which garnered $203.20 ounces at $500,000. The season total so far was 2,588 ounces, more than half season goal in just 10 weeks. Tony had a lot of reasons to be happy, but of course wasn’t satisfied with more work to be done. 

Gold Rush, Fridays, 8/7c, Discovery