‘Gold Rush’: Parker Schnabel Shocks Crew With Bombshell News

Warning: The below contains spoilers for Gold Rush Season 15, Episode 14.]

Parker Schnabel has faced an uphill battle this season on Gold Rush. The miner needs some big weeks to get anywhere close to his 10,000-ounce goal. This motivated him to make a massive move to hedge his bets during the February 7 episode. 

Meanwhile, Tony Beets put pressure on son Mike to deliver at Paradise Hill with the only wash plant going at the moment. The two have a difference of opinion that causes some frustration, especially on one side. There looks to be a light at the end of the tunnel for Tony’s eldest Kevin, who has been on the verge of getting his first gold as a first-year mine boss. 

Read on to see how things unfolded. 

Parker Schnabel 

Tyson Lee checking out excavator tracks

Over halfway through the season, Schnabel has still been trying to get out of his money pit at Dominion Creek. Indian River has thankfully been paying out with 650 ounces last week. Despite turning a corner, he remained a fifth of the way into his 10,000-once goal. The mine boss rounded up his inner circle Chris Doumitt, Mitch Blaschke and Tyson Lee to break some big news. Schnabel dropped the bomb to his shocked crew that he purchased neighboring Gold Run and Sulphur Creek for $2.5 million. “We’ll see if it’s congratulations or condolences,” he said of this Klondike Monopoly.

Some of the richest in history have been found in these grounds dating back to the 1800s during the initial Gold Rush with $1.5 billion in gold over time found. Since there was a spot already stripped at Sulpher, his plan was to move wash plant Bob over to the new acquisition over there. This was because work for the season was completed at the Ken and Stuart’s location. These 25 miles was the longest move ever for a plant. It was not without its issues after Lee noticed the bar on the feed lip of the plant had was broken. Mechanics worked quickly to repair it so the crew could get sluicing within the 10-hour deadline set by Schnabel. In the mean time, work was done to stockpile pay. 

The team met for weighing for the week. Gold from the Long Cut at Dominion translated to 217.70 ounces. Big Red from Bridge Cut equated to 77.10 ounces. Bob finished up at Ken and Stuart’s with 98.80 ounce. After two days running, Bob also brought in 141.65 at Sulpher Creek. A good sign that Schnabel’s investment-gamble could pay off. The $1.3 million shot in the arm added to the season total of 2,880.50 ounces. With the clock ticking, there was more work to be done. 

Tony Beets

Tony Beets frustrated in front of excavator. (Discovery Channel)

The “King of the Klondike” started out with three plants and was riding high most of the season so far. However, Tony has since been taking a big loss on the Indian River claim waiting for the ground to thaw. Luckily, he did have Paradise Hill and the Trommel to get some gold output. Tony depended on son Mike to deliver. The crew ran into some trouble when water was discovered leaking out of the Trommel. This caused issues with the sluice box. Tony and Mike look into the issue. They faced the same problem three weeks ago where Mike installed a rubber mat to stop the flow of money. 

Tony doesn’t think Mike solved the problem as the baffles were angled to pick up the pay dirt, but some are poorly positioned sending the pay and water back the wrong way. He removed the misaligned baffles to allow flow in the correct direction. Tony blamed Mike for not removing the baffles in the first place. Tony’s solution actually made the problem worse. His new plan was to place  two sheets of steel at the entrance of the Trommel so any water splashing out would be  redirected away from the sluice box. Tony doesn’t agree. The plan worked. Mike felt disrespected about how he was treated. The Paradise Hill gold weigh-in for the week was 127.70 ounces worth $320,000.

Kevin Beets 

Kevin Beet operating crane next to wash plant.

For Kevin, it was all about finally getting to sluice at his claim leased from his parents at Scribner Creek. He hoped for 100 ounces to get started into his 1,000 ounces. He and partner Faith Teng invested $2 million so far and paid Tony no royalties yet. The crew added two new recruits John Bell and  Kayden Foot. There was some delay when a giant rock got stuck in the wash plant. The prewash was blocked, which caused the plant to shut down. 

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A member managed to remove the rock to get back on the gold. Water started spraying everywhere due to broken spray bars that wouldn’t wash the gold properly. They repaired the problem. Operator Hunter Canning opened up about being away from her 10-year-old daughter and sacrificing so much to provide a better life. Tony and wife Minnie met at their son’s site. After three-and-a-half months he had his first gold weigh-in of the season, which was 33 ounces worth $82,500. Tony said he will have to crank things up. Kevin wondered if he would be able to hit his goal at this point, but he was finally making progress. 

Gold Rush, Fridays, 8/7c, Discovery