Gold Rush: Rick Ness Receives Big News Regarding His Mining Future

It’s safe to say the first few weeks into Season 17 ofGold Rush has been disappointing for our miners. This has been especially true for Parker Schnabel and Tony Beets on their rocky road to an aggressive 13,000-ounce goal. Parker’s slow start isn’t what the prodigy was accustomed to, especially in comparison to last year. He hoped to even hedge his bets with four wash plants going. However, the top gravel would not deliver the numbers needed thus far. Can the crew turn things around?

Tony was in a similar predicament coming off a previous hot streak from start to finish. Though things had been turning around where the Midas Cut started delivering much bigger numbers than Parker’s gold trickle. Meanwhile, Rick Ness was just trying to get his operation started. That couldn’t happen until he could get an engineer to draft a plan for approval by the mining authorities. Will the underdog be able to continue his work or be forced to pack it up and go home for good?

Read on to find out what happened during the October 30 episode of the Discovery Channel series.

Rick Ness

Rick Ness (Discovery Channel)

Frustration and pressure grew by the day as Rick wasn’t able to run the stockpile of pay from last season, but there was hope around the corner. A mining engineer named Adam Mickey finally came to assess Duncan Creek and formulated a plan. The Vegas Valley Cut got deemed unstable, which was why Rick’s operation was shut down during the offseason. Adam suggested they could leave the cut open. However, the focus should be on another area where there were no worker safety issues. He looked to meet with an inspector for the green light.

Time was running out with Rick waiting for the official word. His mining future hung in the balance. Adam gave the boss what he had waited for, the formal approval to move forward in the lower risk cuts. He wastes no time getting on the gold and fired up Monster Red. “We’re off to the races,” Rick said. He needed to open up new ground and recruit the crew to help him accomplish that. Rick spent two days sluicing through the existing stockpile from Big Red. His first cleanup would hopefully help pay the bills and keep them going. The remaining pay pile generated 33.40 ounces worth over $150,000. A solid start that kept them alive to fight another day.

Parker Schnabel

Parker Schnabel (Discovery Channel)

Parker’s season was no doubt starting to unravel. His decision to run top gravel through his four wash plants hadn’t paid off out of the gate. Making matters worse was the fact fuel prices were rising and gold prices came down $500 per ounce in the last few weeks. Parker hoped for 4,000 ounces to come out of the Quagmire Cut. Foreman Mitch Blaschke knew he needed to get good numbers. Of course, there was a delay when a hydraulic line blew on Roxanne and leaked oil under the sluices directly under the shaker deck. The crew not only had to replace the hose. They also had to decontaminate the wash plant with soap and water. It took four hours to get Roxanne back on the gold.

Foreman Tyson Lee was busy with three wash plants running at Dominion Creek. He pushed through top gravel to reach the rich pay beneath. The Golden Goose ran into issues at the Airstrip Cut. The team had to replace the shaft, which involved a complete teardown. This shutdown cost Parker at least $16,000. However, in the grand scheme of things, it could have been worse. The weigh-in started with Roxanne, which brought in 50 ounces. Golden Goose added another 81.90 ounces. Bob in the Bridget Cut contributed 48.60 ounces. Big Red put 53.80 ounces on the board. The results were once again not good. Parker still remained hopeful the results would improve.

Tony Beets

Nick Beets and Tony Beets stood together in claim. (Discovery Channel)

The latest goal for Tony was to get Find-A-Lot going at Indian Creek. After water issues and a massive stripping operation in the Midas Cut, the initial 440 ounces proved the new cut was pointing the “King of the Klondike” in the right direction. He called for reinforcements as Find-A-Lot needed to move from Corner Cut to two-and-a-half miles through a dicey route next to Sluice-A-Lot. The treacherous terrain and moving around the Indian River camp was not an easy process to navigate. A narrow turn caused Find-A-Lot to smash into a bank. Despite the setback, the wash plant pieces were put into place. However Tony had to shut down the water pump to raise Sluice-A-Lot in order to reach Find-A-Lot.

During the process his brother, foreman Nick noticed a hole in the pipe. Sluice-A-Lot was started up again to figure out how to fix the pipe. Tony called his son Mike to leave the operation at Paradise Hill to take charge of pipe fusing repair. Mike made the fix to Find-A-Lot to get in on the action alongside Sluice-A-Lot. The Beets crew met up for the weigh-in. Sluice-A-Lot was the only wash plant that got cleaned this week. Though it generated an impressive 426.58 ounces worth almost $2 million. Tony thought it would be even better if they could double up. Parker better step it up if he wanted to keep his lead.

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