Parker Schnabel rules the Klondike once more. With only three weeks left on his Sulphur Creek water permit, he ramps up pressure on foreman Mitch Blaschke.
Parker digs in a place during a visit and finds a lot of gold, almost 100 pieces, looking back at him. He tells the team to make the cut two more acres wide and wash every piece of dirt they can take.
More help comes: five trucks, two diggers, and one loader for Roxanne wash plant! A hiccup happens when one digger's parking brake breaks, losing $8,000 each hour in downtime.
Fixer Taylor Matejka gets it done quickly by seeing a drippy tube. At weigh-in, Bridge Cut brings 188.40 ounces, Golden Mile's Sluicifer pulls 232.10 ounces, and the new Sulphur growth goes up with 406.50 ounces.
Total: 827 ounces, worth $2.8 million, making it the best week for Parker ever.
Rick Ness keeps trying to stay alive, battling hard times at Lightning Creek’s Diamond Cut, which gives only 7 ounces. He has a last 100-ounce payment to Troy Taylor, so pressure grows.
The crew moves to the new Boulder Cut, but an excavator breaks down, the main machine for loading trucks.
Ryan Kent steps in, sees a leaking hose near the pump, swaps it out, and gets hydraulics working again.
Right in the middle of fixes, Rick brings the team together for big news: they get an extension on the Duncan Creek water license! The team opens cans to party.
Duncan has given nearly 6,000 ounces in four years, with a money stack worth more than $1.4 million still sitting.
Boulder Cut wraps up the week with 22.35 ounces ($78,000), but everyone is eager to head back to Duncan. Rick stays at Lightning for now and thinks about his next move.
Tony Beets keeps doing well at Indian River's Early Bird Cut, earning 398.18 ounces ($1.4 million) this week, only more than 2,300 ounces for the season ͏till now.
He goes after his 6,500-ounce aim by opening the Corner Cut, digging hard for pay dirt.
Over at Paradise Hill, his son Mike has a tough time after Tony takes away half of the crew and stuff. With few tools and supplies, he finds it hard to move ahead while wanting to win his father's trust.
Mike feels the weight of having the Beets' name and wants to show that he can guide himself.
Feeling tired, he talks with his mom, Minnie, who is concerned about Tony's interference and tells Mike to find his own place like his brother Kevin.
Mike changes his plan and looks for old tailings that might have gold in them.
They wager $20 on it. Mike turns to an old heap of dirt with a wash plant, Harold fights against the rain to connect water, and at last spills gold: 14.28 ounces ($50,000), his first this season.
Minnie shines with joy and suggests the idea to Tony, but he says Mike should stay with the Trommel for now.
New episodes of Gold Rush premiere every Friday at 8:00 pm ET on the Discovery Channel.
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