Rick Ness Seeks Advice From Parker Schnabel & Cleans Up at Rally Valley

[Warning: The below contains spoilers for Gold Rush Season 15, Episodes 8 and 9.]

After a holiday break, Gold Rush returned on January 3 in a big way with two back-to-back episodes!  We pick up where we left off for Parker Schnabel, who continues to try to dig himself out of the costly hole at Dominion Creek. Rick Ness has rebounded at Rally Valley coming off a big win in terms of ounces of gold generated.

Then there was the Beets family with elder son Kevin learning the hard way the sacrifice it takes to be a mine boss. His dad Tony has been on a roll right out of the gate, leaning more on son Mike and Monica and nephew Mike to oversee his sites. Let’s dig into how things unfolded for the crews.

Rick Ness

Rally Valley has finally paid dividends where three days of sluicing brought more than 300 ounces into Rick’s 1,500 season goal. Adding more pressure to finish big is knowing his water license for the Ducan Creek claim was uncertain next year. With the crew 160 feet down into the cut, they noticed the water was seeping into Rally Valley. They’d need to move their only working pump to drain the cut of all the water and get sluicing again before conditions got too dangerous. It was an all-hands-on-deck effort. A flat tire on a rock truck created a delay. The team worked feverishly to get the old tire off ASAP using the 700 excavator and put in a new one. Ness’ small but mighty group battled through rock slides, flooding, and everything in between, but the chapter of his prized cut was about to end. The crew gathered to see what wash plant Monster Read sluiced this week. In all, it was another 181.87 ounces worth $454,000 with one last big payoff to come from Rally Valley.

Tony Beets, Parker Schnabel, Rick Ness posing together (Discovery Channel)

During the second episode, Ness meets up with Schnabel for some advice about his water license issues. With Ness on the brink of buying out the Dominion Creek claim, it would be useless without it. “You just have to decide what you can do and what you want to do to start to lean into your shortcomings instead of hide away from them,” were Schnabel’s pearls of wisdom. Ness told him he wasn’t ready to pack it in. “You’re a survivor, Rick,” Schnabel told him. For Ness, it put things into perspective. Back at Duncan Creek, Ness’ crew prepares for a massive payday with the last of pay dirt coming out of Rally Valley.

With that ground just about done, Ness had to prepare for the next place to run and keep the momentum going. He eyed the Bench Cut, which was theoretically easy to access after prior success. Buzz Legaul was tasked to stockpile pay next to wash plant Rocky and get ready to run as soon as Rally Valley’s pay pile ended. He ran into permafrost and frozen bedrock, despite the area being stripped ground last year. However, the Bench Cut was exposed to sub-zero temperatures. Ness miscalculated how long it would take to thaw. With no second option, Ness started to think about what to do. Ness and Legaul surveyed the Old Creek Cut and received some prospects there. Meanwhile, the other crew ran through the last of the Rally Valley stockpile. The crew gathered to weigh the last gold at Rally Valley. They gathered for their big score. The results brought their Ralley Valley total to 929.75 ounces worth more than $2.3 million. Ness was a happy and thankful guy. Can this comeback continue?

Parker Schnabel

Parker Schnabel’s crew member Tupper helped chain up the wash plant. (Discovery Channel)

Things remain dire for Schnabel who is off to his worst start in a decade with seven weeks only 364 ounces into his 10,000-ounce season goal. Mountains of debt kept piling on, which meant the crew had a lot of work to do to turn things around. He met up with his right-hand men Mitch Blaschke and Tyson Lee to build their plan. Blaschke ran pay through wash plant Roxanne. Lee was given the job to build a pad near Bridge Cut and pay for Big Red to start sluicing by the end of the week. Tatiana Costa noticed there was something wrong with Big Red. Its shaker deck had a broken spring. A new one was installed. The plant was moved in three pieces and assembled on the new pad. They made it happen, even working through an issue of pulling out the hopper feeder that was stuck. With sluicing across two cuts, Big Red and Roxanne operational, there was some progress. The total went up to 567.50 ounces. Still nowhere near where Schnabel wanted to be at this point.

Eight weeks into the season, Schnabel was hemorrhaging money at Dominion Creek. He still remained hopeful going into the second episode with Roxanne at the Long Cut and Big Red at the Bridge Cut. The team also had Ken Tatlow and Stuart Schmidt cut and almost stripped. Delays came when Roxanne’s feeder conveyor was jammed. The wash plant also had a tear in the belt. They got the equipment moving again. A new crew member working a dozer almost went over the edge. Blaschke helped, thankful he was told of the issue before it turned disastrous and someone got hurt. The team meet for another weigh-in. The season total went up to 804.25. Schnabel needs a big hit or this could end up being a devastating result.

Kevin Beets

Kevin Beets/Discovery Channel

Tony Beets’ son Kevin has been met with a series of unfortunate events during his first season in charge. He has been burning through his life savings. This week it was about getting down to pay at the Links Cut. Forman Brennan Ruault brought in

Brenan Ruault brought Matt Kiefer’s fiancée Ash Phillips on board to lend a hand in getting the dirt moved as an operator. It didn’t take long before she clashed with fellow crew member Hunter Canning, who had been trucking overburden the last four weeks. Phillips didn’t like how she was doing things and came in hot. Canning wasn’t having any of it. They argued with Kiefer involved. Kiefer and Phillips accused Canning of being on her phone. Canning argued she was picking at her nails. Kevin heard the commotion on the walkie and wanted Ruault to handle it. He brought all parties involved together. They apologized. At the end of the first episode, Kevin and Ruault investigate the ground. They saw a hint of the yellow stuff, meaning they were ont the right track. This was a needed morale boost.

Tony Beets

We checked in with the “King of the Klondike” during the second hour where things were moving along well. He has banked gold worth more than $4 million. Tony’s operation is stretched across two claims. One at Indian River with his nephew Mike sluicing at the Comeback Cut using Sluice-A-Lot and the Shaker Deck. Another was at Paradise Hill, where son Mike built up a mega pile of pay from the Super Pit, a cut they opened. Dad wanted the Trommel running. Mike struggled to get the pump going.

He was finally able to fire up the trommel,. Tony had a proud father moment observing how Mike handled things. Even though there were other hiccups, the crew there were able to start sluicing. The Beets family met up for the weigh-in. The gold blitz generated an incredible $1.3 million. A record for the season!

Gold Rush, Fridays, 8/7c, Discovery