Tony Beets Achieves Season First After More Than 40 Years Mining

Winter has arrived on Gold Rush, meaning the season is readying to close. The miners on the Discovery Channel series worked to squeeze every last flake of treasure from the ground. Parker Schnabel, Tony Beets, and Rick Ness have pushed their equipment and crew like perhaps never before as a result. 

For Rick, it was more of a sink or swim scenario. He invested everything into one last chance to make the most out of Vegas Valley. Not only so his loyal team left with a bonus, but in order to make sure they can all come back next year.   

Read on to find out what transpired during the April 24 episode. 

Parker Schnabel 

Parker Schnabel (Discovery Channel)

Parker showed no signs of slowing down inching ever so closely to his 10,000-ounce goal. Even with everything going on, the mining prodigy looked to next year and had foreman Mitch Blaschke overseeing the stripping project while also keeping the wash plant Roxanne fed. Elsewhere, fellow lieutenant Tyson Lee was holding down the fort with three plants at Dominion Creek. Parker wanted to smash their target this week, but Roxanne wasn’t making things easy. The crew noticed there were structural cracks tied to the screen deck. They couldn’t afford to stop the plant at this stage of the game, especially two days of potential downtime. 

Mechanic Alec Kelly went in with a fix to hopefully get them through the season. However, he hurt his foot while conducting the repair. Medical was called as a 4,000-degree molten metal flew into his boot causing second-degree burns. He got wrapped up, went back to welding, and got Roxanne back on the gold. There was one more dicey situation that came moving the radial stacker back three inches so it sat further underneath the feeder conveyer. The process opened the door for potential calamity and it to totally topple over. Thankfully for them and Parker’s sanity, the team proved successful. Back at headquarters, the guys met for the weekly weigh-in. Bob generated 127.35 ounces. Roxanne added 133.90 ounces with Golden Goose and Big Red at the Golden Mile bringing in 258.15 ounces. The 10,000-ounce achievement was unlocked and brought Parker’s total to a whopping $38 million. Funny enough a one-ounce golden nugget-looking egg came from the Golden Goose. Perhaps a sign of prosperity, which Parker would need as he and Tony went neck and neck. 

Rick Ness 

Rick Ness (Discovery Channel)

Bailey Carten had finished up the last bucket of pay at Vegas Valley at a point when Rick had only surpassed 1,077 ounces into his 1,800-ounce goal. That would be the number needed to secure the crew’s bonuses and ensure there would be another season for Rick’s operation. . The new Vegas Valley cut ran out of pay sooner than expected. With just two weeks left, Rick was hoping for a big final payday with all eyes on his new cut aptly named Last Chance Cut. 

Before stripping could begin, the area must be drained out and cleared of trees and loose rocks to make it safe to work in before going down 40-feet deep to get to the gold. Rick hopped into the rebuilt 700 excavator, which was back into operation, to get to work. He spent $50,000 on a complete engine rebuild for it. Just as the underdog got into a groove, he noticed a hydraulic leak after hooking a tree.

Ryan Kent got sprayed in the face with hydraulic fluid while looking into the repair. Ryan worked through the equipment failure. In the meantime, Monster Red was shut down without pay to run. It was now a battle against the weather and worrying about freezing machinery. Rick convened for a weigh-in that came in at 302.27 ounces worth more than $1.4 million. There was just 420 ounces more to hit 1,800 to send everyone home with gold. But the crew still hasn’t hit pay in the Last Chance Cut. It’s all riding on Bailey. No pressure. 

Tony Beets

Tony Beets (Discovery Channel)

The focus for much of the season was on the potential of Parker hitting 10,000 ounces. Then Tony ended up doing it for the first time in his 40 plus years mining. The “King of the Klondike” edged in front of Parker last week. Cousin Mike informed Tony the Corner Cut was almost done and ran out of pay. All eyes then turned to the Early Bird Cut as it had some of his richest pay all year. Panini gave him a good indicator this strategy would work. He called the 950 excavator and trucks including the massive A50 to strip the ground driven by Darian Dennis. Tony overloaded the dirt in the truck. It made it hard to dump. The team dug a ditch on the road, installed a pump and culvert from the new cut to the old one. Then it was about rebuilding the road so they could get to pay. 

Shawn Hannah was on his first day on the job and put in the excavator to help with the job. He ended up getting sent home after almost causing big problems with equipment. Tony stepped in to finish the ditch. The family later got together for their weigh-in. Sluice-A-Lot ran the last of the Corner Cut’s pay for 192.42 ounces. Find-A-Lot brought in 182.06 ounces at the Corner Cut. Harold at the Hester Cut added 132.60 ounces. The Trommel brought them a massive 435.06 ounces. The  Beets family made it to 10,212 ounces worth over $38 million dollars. “That doesn’t mean we are going to quit. I think I can beat Parker,” Tony declared. We’ll see who finishes first during the season finale. 

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