‘Gold Rush’: Rick Ness’ Crew Gets Heated Amid Season Frustrations

Barreling closer to the end of the season means the miners on Gold Rush are feeling the pressure to deliver big numbers. Tony Beets has been cooking virtually from the start, but continues to face issues at Paradise Hill with the Trommel at a standstill. The weight of that frustration was felt on the shoulders of his son Mike.

It’s the similar feelings Rick Ness faced alongside a dedicated crew who have been in an uphill battle at Vegas Valley Duncan Creek. The underdog mine boss poured more than a million dollars into the operation in a last ditch effort to turn the season around. Tony’s eldest Kevin also needs a jumpstart at Scribner Creek. In the second year running point, he had to deal with lost team members, equipment breakdowns, and lack of production.

Did the February 27 episode give way to a light at the end of the tunnel? Read on to find out.

Tony Beets

Mike Beets (Discovery Channel)

After 14 weeks the “King of the Klondike” generated almost $17 million in gold. He looked to be within reach of his aggressive 6,500-ounce goal. The key to success for Tony had been to keep his two wash plants at Indian River running 24/7. With resources taken from his son Mike at Paradise Hill caused some dissension. Tony wanted to step in to take over, but his wife Minnie told him to let Mike be and that he had to learn somehow. She pictured Mike having his own operation like Kevin one day. Things started to look up for Mike as the crew just had to put all the pieces together and get the Trommel going. Minnie stopped by to see the progress.

Mike hoped to get to sluicing within three days. He called the family to mark the occasion and fired up the equipment. Unfortunately, Tony saw issues and ordered him to shut off the machinery. There was no water in the chute in the prewash causing dry dirt to back up into the feed conveyer. They fixed the issue only to find there were not enough rollers. Mike blamed Len Hoekstra, but his dad said, “It’s his party.” He had to order the missing rollers, which once again put the steps forward on hold. The weigh-in for Indian River’s Corner Cut with Sluice-A-Lot brought in 258.92 ounces worth over $900,000. Find-A-Lot added 278.40 ounces bringing their total to $1.9 million for the week. An overall 5,432 ounces put them just a little over a thousand short of season goal so far. A lot of money is being made and potentially to come if Mike can get the Trommel moving.

Rick Ness

Chris Lalonde (Discovery Channel)

Rick entrusted Bailey Carten as they looked to get sluicing within five weeks. The team weren’t getting the results they wanted with three and half months of the season and only mining a quarter of their goal. Their focus at the moment was to dig down 120 feet to get down to pay at their new Valhalla Cut. This required a grueling rock truck schedule of loading three rock trucks 100 times a day and moving the overburden to dump dirt. Kai Shallcross was losing patience at the speed Chris Lalonde moved during the process. He honked his horn. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing,” Chris said.

Rick escalated the situation as Chris thought cutting corners would get someone killed. Rick told Chris to take a break. He stepped in to drive the truck for a while. This was an eye-opening experience for him, gaining new respect for his crew. He needed to find a better method because what they’re doing now wasn’t sustainable. His plan was to cut a new road to create a straight shot and cut down the route to the dump site. Kai and Chris put their dust up behind them. They were within target, just under 55, of the 1,800 loads a week needed. Rick had 80 feet more to go before they could fire up Monster Red and bring in gold. It was all or nothing having invested everything. He needed to make the money back or risk never being able to return to the site.

Kevin Beets

Buzz Legault (Discovery Channel)

After struggling Kevin got a nice shot in the arm as Buzz Legault returned after eight weeks away. He was away to witness the birth of his daughter, but looked forward to making a paycheck again. The crew needed to get the plant running 24/7. However, the skeleton crew made that a challenge. They were behind their 2,000-ounce goal and had to get on stripping in order to build a pay mountain at the Sphinx Cut. Kevin tasked Buzz to build a big pay pile to get sluicing. Buzz wondered what they were doing since he was gone. It got him comparing Kevin and Tony’s approach. “Tony is a man of action….It’s definitely a whole different game working for Kevin,” he said.

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Making matters worse was the ground was frozen. He needed to get a bucket with bite. The problem was the bucket he found at the site was cracked. Kevin found their best bet was to weld it. The bucket helped get into the material .They turned on the wash plant and they are back sluicing around the clock. Buzz met with Kevin and Faith Teng for a weigh-in. It came in at 187.27 ounces worth $655,000. They were at 769 ounces with a long way to go.

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

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