[Warning: The below contains spoilers for Gold Rush Season 15, Episode 7.]
Tony Beets has been on a winning streak during the first six weeks of the season on Gold Rush. A stark contrast compared to his fellow mining boss Parker Schnabel, who has been met with a series of unfortunate events. Beets has generated a whopping $3 million in gold so far, and during the December 20 episode, decided to take a break.
Even though he planned to “f*ck off” for the week with his wife Minnie in Sweden, that doesn’t mean the work stopped. The patriarch left the operation in the hands of kids Monica and Mike and nephew Mike. Something he hasn’t done for this long. What could possibly go wrong?
Tony Beets Crew
Len Hoekstra under machinery. (Discovery Channel)
Tony Beets wanted to have three wash plants up and running when he got back from his vacay. His nephew Mike ventured to Paradise Hill to help Tony’s son Mike get the Trommel sluicing. The distribution box needed to be reinstalled after being removed for maintenance. It then became a battle of the Mikes when they got into a disagreement over how to handle the job. Monica tried to cool things off but felt getting involved wouldn’t do any good. Everything had to be lined up perfectly so no wash pay dirt leaked out and lost gold. In the end son Mike wasn’t satisfied with what was being done. Cousin had enough and went back to Indian River to see what was going on at his site and the Shaker Deck.
Son Mike struggled to get the Trommel going. A gap in between shoots caused issues. The crew got the distributor on, but the water pump was another problem. They troubleshooted the broken pump, which meant bad news when Dad came over. The Beets clan met up for a gold weigh-in. Son Mike had to face the music that he didn’t complete the job. Cousin Mike was washing dirt with two plants at Indian River. To reach a 5,000-ounce goal Tony needed 230 ounces a week. Shaker Deck ran for two days and generated 79.85 ounces, almost $200,000. Next, Sluice-A-Lot ran all week and generated 276.45 worth over $690,000. This brought the total to 1,607 ounces. Tony remained cautiously optimistic about the potential of what’s to come.
Parker Schnabel
Discovery Channel
Six weeks into the season at Dominion Creek, Schnabel found just 290 ounces. With no wash plants running, the miner was starting to get nervous. Two weeks ago Parker made the call to shut down his one working wash plant Roxanne when the permafrost made it too difficult to dig. Now after a string of warm weather, the crew was ready to get back to work. Schnabel has hedged his bets working the Bridge Cut and Long Cut. The crew needed to dig a deeper ditch in their strategy to get Roxanne sluicing. An excavator went down and needed new fuel injectors installed, which meant another $12,000 in the hole.
‘Gold Rush’: Rick Ness Hits Jackpot At Rally Valley
Meanwhile, veteran team member Damien Browne was sent on a solo mission to get eight acres cut and three acres removed by the end of the week at Ken Tatlow and Stuart Schmidt ground. The one-man show ran into issues including a converter down and a flat tire, all within 24 hours. Luckily, the mechanic cavalry arrived just in time to fix both issues to speed up the sluicing process and make some money. Browne was essentially the mining version of Tom Hanks from Cast Away. His stripping operation neared completion. Schnabel was impressed with his work.
Back on the home front, a week’s worth of digging the mega ditch was done. They were ready to fire up Roxanne to sluice with a mountain of pay to go through. After two days of running in the Long Cut, it delivered 76.35 ounces worth $190,000. In all, he was at 364.50 ounces. Once again disappointing results. Can Schnabel rebound? We’ll have to watch and find out.
Gold Rush, Fridays, 8/7c, Discovery Channel