Rick Ness Hits Jackpot At Rally Valley (RECAP)

[Warning: The below contains spoilers for Gold Rush Season 15, Episode 6.]

It has been a rough start for Rick Ness on Gold Rush. First, he found out he may not have a water license for Duncan Creek past this season. Then he ordered the wrong pump for the wash plant Monster Red, which put his operation at a standstill. Despite the setbacks, the 43-year-old managed to turn things around in a big way during the December 13 episode. 

Elsewhere, Tony Beets’ nephew Michael worked to impress his uncle by serving as the foreman at Indian Creek. He took a big swing and proved worthy of the opportunity. Things aren’t going well for Tony’s eldest son Kevin at Scribner Creek. The first-time mine boss has been snakebit with constant equipment failure. His situation seemed to go from bad to worse. Let’s dig into it all. 

Rick Ness

Sitting at zero gold after five weeks into the season, time has not been on Ness’ side. Luckily, he was able to recoup the $150,000 he spent on the wrong pump for Monster Red by returning it. Moving forward Ness cooked up a new plan to move the eight-inch pump from Rally Valley in order to run paydirt through the wash plant. The other crew would continue to dig pay dirt to clean out the flooded groundwater before he is forced to move it back. They finally got sluicing until they ran into issues with Monster Red’s spray bars. Without enough pressure on one side to wash properly, gold could potentially be lost. They managed to bring new pipes and lines to link the spray bars together, allowing the water to circulate and build up pressure for a consistent flow across the full length of the wash plant’s screen. 

For the first time this season, Monster Red was washing paydirt 250 yards an hour. Adding to the momentous occasion, the crew noticed they had hit bedrock. A great sign that they are on the cusp of Ness’ biggest pay yet in the three years at Rally Valley. Gold nuggets discovered give them more reasons to celebrate. It now becomes a race to get all the gold out of the ground before Rally Valley floods with water. Ness gathered his crew for the first weigh of the season. The initial count was 115.71 ounces. He then surprised the team even more by revealing another canister. Together they found 315.71 ounces worth more than three-quarters of a million dollars! It’s one of his best hauls ever. Ness’ fortunes have turned around. 

Tony Beets 

Tony Beets working in excavator. (Discovery Channel)

The “King of the Klondike” came out of the gate strong by sluicing almost four months earlier than in the past. After five weeks, he already mined 1,105 ounces worth $2.7 million. To his target, Tony divided his family up with kids Mike and Monica at Paradise Hill while he enlisted the services of nephew Michael at Indian River. The latter of which has Tony’s only working wash plant. He tasked Michael to move Sluice-A-Lot to the other end of the cut to create more efficiency. Rather than use the mile-long service Road, Michael took a risk dragging the $800,000 wash plant down a shorter route across the Comeback Cut. It saves time but requires careful navigation. He maneuvered through not only rough terrain and muddy conditions, but rain and hail.

With the D10 dozer moved things along up the ramp where one calculation off could mean going over the edge and disaster. Michael pulled it off. However, just as he was firing up the wash plant, he heard a bad noise. A large rock had smashed the impact plate on the first screen deck. He had to replace it quickly. He welded stronger plates to cope with the stronger rocks. After only two hours of being down, Michael managed to get Sluice-A-Lot back up and running. Tony was impressed with how Michael handled the fix. The Beets family gathered to weigh the gold from Indian River. The result was 146.10 ounces, worth more than $365,000. Tony’s season now stands at 1,250 ounces, banking $3.1 million. 

Kevin Beets

Kevin Beets fixing machinery. (Discovery Channel)

Despite Tony loaning some equipment and providing some land, Kevin has still drained all his life savings into this new operation. He hoped to hit pay by the end of the week. However, machinery constantly being down and groundwater at the Links Cut made it difficult. Foreman Brennan Ruault continued to get frustrated at the quality of the equipment, especially when he noticed bolts broken off the 30-year-old D10 dozer. Kevin also noticed an oil leak. It was there only one, which meant his operation came to a halt. He had no choice but to go to Tony to ask for a spare dozer. “There is no more freebies. We all got to learn to be our own boss,” Dad said. Not good. 

Without a dozer,  Ruault tried to strip overburden down to pay with a 460 excavator. The idea was to fit a devil’s finger into it to do the work of a dozer. Things went from bad to worse when he heard there was an electrical fire on the 700 excavator. They found the starter motor solenoid that provided a spark for the engine. The machine wouldn’t start without it. Kevin’s biggest excavator was now down.  He found a replacement solenoid and replaced it. However, his mission to hit pay ended in failure. Can he rebound? 

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