Gold Rush: Parker Schnabel Puts Pressure on Kevin Beets to Pay Back $130,000 Debt

[Warning: The below contains spoilers for Gold Rush Season 16.]

Business has picked up at Dominion Creek for Parker Schnabel on Discovery Channel’s Gold Rush. The mining kingpin is stretching all his resources for Season 16 with three plants running. He leaned into the team with Tyson Lee overseeing two while Mitch Blaschke and Brennan Ruault firing up the third chasing what the old timers left at Sulphur Creek.

Tony Beets is also doing pretty dang good sluicing nonstop, bringing in $8 million worth of gold two months into the season. His eldest Kevin continues to struggle after losing crew and fighting wash plant shutdowns. Buzz Legault left to see the birth of his child was a particular hard hit. Can he turn things around?

Let’s dive into the January 2 episode.

Parker Schnabel

Parker Schnabel/Discovery Channel

Tyson had his work cut out for him at the Bridge Cut as he planned to wash plant Bob’s second move of the season. Elsewhere, teammate Tatiana Cost noticed gold could be washed away into the fine tailings. She called Tyson over to have a look and decided to put Bob’s move on hold until he could figure out a plan. The foreman went to Parker for advice on what to do. Parker suggested adding kickbacks that gives the equipment a chance to slow down, kicking the material back upstream.

Tyson essentially had to redesign the distribution shoots. Tyson also had to gear up for one of the trickiest plant moves for Bob. This involved taking the feeder up a 15-degree ramp and then transporting the wash plant through a narrow dyke. In the end, it was mission accomplished for Tyson as Bob was put in place on a 60-foot high pad. Sluicifer delivered 272.15 ounces worth $953,000. Bob added 96.5 ounces worth $338,000 with the time running. Mitch kept his eye on the gold at Sulphur Creek with 302 ounces worth just over $1 million. That brought the season total so far to 670.65 ounces and an overall total of 3,541 ounces worth close to $12.5 million.

Kevin Beets

Kevin Beets/Discovery Channel

At Scribner Creek, Kevin battled to keep his season alive. Just when things couldn’t get any more stressful for the second-year mine boss, Parker came for a visit. He came to collect on the around $130,000 debt owed to him for equipment Kevin acquired. Kevin beat around the bush, but Parker wasn’t there to hear excuses why the money hadn’t come to him after six months. He gave him until Thursday to make the payment. Parker invested $4.5 million into his operation, so every bit helped. If Kevin doesn’t pay up, Parker said, “Then the pitchforks come out.” Kevin and his partner Faith Teng needed to bank enough gold to pay him back. Kevin had to replace a rubber mat from the plant to a steel plate to ensure pay dirt didn’t get trapped. They’d need 36 ounces to pay Parker. Their final weigh-in generated $97,000. They’d have to also pull from their savings even more in order to get Parker off their backs.

Tony Beets

Tony Beets/Discovery Channel

Tony’s cash cow had been Sluice-A-Lot, his wash plant at Indian River. However, the “King of the Klondike” continued to put the pressure on son Mike to get going at Paradise Hill. Mike was hurting after Tony took his crew. He needed to find more staff ASAP. Among the new recruits were Kendra Bloodworth, who grew up farming and ran loaders and Sienna Seaton, who worked in construction. Mike walked them through the basic tasks. Kendra’s first big test was to check the oil in the water pump. She added more after it appeared low, but overfilled. Things got heated when Mike ordered Sienna after she failed to stop after getting close to the rock trucks. Her excuse was that she was on the wrong radio channel.

Mike gave her a verbal warning. Since each woman was without the confidence or ability to operate wash plant Harold, he relegated them to rock trucks. The search continued for new additions. Tyson brought Brayson Janvier and Noah Anderson, an industrial painter, on board. Right out of the gate, Brayson discovered water pressure from the plant was low and had to shut down. Mike discovered a pump hose ruptured, and they needed to add the new hose. He couldn’t afford for the equipment to be down. Mike worked to get the operation in order. The momentum continued with 413.32 ounces worth more than $1.4 million at Indian River. Harold came in at 16.92 ounces worth $59,000 after three days. Tony said for Mike to give it one more week to see if running at Paradise Hill would be fruitful. Otherwise, the crew needed a Plan B ASAP.

Gold Rush, Fridays, 8/7c, Discovery Channel