Gold Rush. Parker Schnabel makes a major move, as Rick Ness takes a big gamble.

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It has been going big or going home for the miners during the Gold Rush.

For Parker Schnabel, that meant acquiring more land, including Sulphur Creek, a move which seems to have initially paid off right 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 two million dollars 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 Scryer Creek finally got some sluicing.

With nearly two million dollars of his life savings poured in so far to make this venture a success, he continues to work toward his one-thousand-ounce goal this year.

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

Parker Schnabel.

After one week at Sulphur 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 in the middle of the cut.

It had never been sluiced before, but Schnabel believed there could be upwards of 1.5 million dollars 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 slightly, but they were successful in getting Big Red to its latest home.

It wasn’t all smooth sailing, though, as a hopper feeder tail drum 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 the plant before the night shift arrived.

Schnabel adjusted his season goal from ten thousand ounces down to eight thousand, but he also made moves to set himself up for success next season.

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 dollars.

The red gravel run exceeded expectations.

The Long Cut brought in another 285.10 ounces, worth more than 712,000 dollars.

It was the cut’s best haul of the season so far.

Things were looking up, with Schnabel hoping to eventually get three plants running for even bigger gains.

Rick Ness.

For the Ness crew, it was all about moving dirt and more dirt.

Time was of the essence, with 160 feet of overburden to get through.

The goal was to run 230 truckloads per day just to have a shot at this potential gold bonanza.

To be as efficient as possible, a system was put in place with truckloads going downhill to dump overburden waste while other rock trucks drove uphill to cut fuel costs.

There was a scary moment when one truck flipped near 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, carefully avoiding damage that would cost thousands to repair.

It was a delicate operation, but they managed to get the truck back on the road.

A rocky, rocky road, described by Ryan Kent as nothing but parking lot speed bumps.

He went as far as to call it hell on earth.

Another truck ran into trouble when Kent drained oil from the drop box and noticed a concerning color along with chunks of metal.

Ness couldn’t afford to have a truck down, so he invested 35,000 dollars to install a new drop box.

The repair required the use of a crane.

After seven days of non-stop trucking, the crew moved 1,890 loads, which was 290 more than their target.

That equated to 80,000 tons of dirt.

In total, over two weeks, they cleared 70 feet of overburden, with another 90 feet still to go before they could even think about hitting pay.

More work remains.

Kevin Beets.

With only 33 ounces toward a one-thousand-ounce goal, Beets decided to add a night shift to get ahead.

Those extra hours of keeping the wash plant running could make all the difference.

He put newcomer Caden Foote, who brought five years of experience, on the job.

The solo assignment meant feeding pay dirt into the hopper and clearing tailings every eight minutes.

It was easier said than done, with half the shift spent in near darkness.

Working alone also meant making decisions independently while staying alert for wildlife.

Things went smoothly until around 5:00 a.m., near the end of the shift.

Foote noticed that no material was coming out and rushed to the conveyor, where he found a breakdown.

He called for help.

Beets investigated and discovered the hopper belt had split.

Making matters worse, twelve tons of dirt were blocking the hopper.

The day crew spent hours shoveling it all out.

After sixteen hours, the space was cleared and the hopper feeder belt was fixed.

Thankfully, Foote’s second night shift was far less eventful.

Hunter Canning took over next and ran into delays of her own, but this time the crew resolved the jam with less than an hour of downtime.

Beets sat down for the weigh-in to see if all the hard work translated into gold.

The result was 122.4 ounces, worth 36,000 dollars.

The offspring of the King of the Klondike saw his decision to run overnight pay off, quadrupling his previous result.

He still has a long way to go, but this was a small and much-needed win.

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