‘Gold Rush’ Exclusive: Slucifer Roars Back to Life For Schnabel Crew

Team Parker Schnabel watches and waits as the beast Slucifer awakes from its frigid slumber on TV Shows Ace exclusive preview for Gold Rush season 12.

And with stripping at mud mountain costing fifty thousand dollars a day, firing up the giant Slucifer in the airstrip couldn’t come soon enough right now for Schnabel and his crew.

Our clip shows a nervous Mitch Blaschke overseeing the giant plant rumble to life. Blaschke noted that the struggle is real without Brennan [Ruault] there to help. He said: “But you know we’re ready to start doing this. We got a lot of new people here that this is going to be their first time they’ve ever seen what we’re actually here to do.”

Blaschke added: “We’re just trying to wake this little girl up. I mean, it’s been sitting all winter, and it’s time to make some money.” Parker made $14 million last year, but he chewed up a ton of ground, and he is worried about finding any new ground to work.

Schnabel, Beets, Lewis, and Ness for Gold Rush season 12 so far.

The race is underway, and the Yukon River is where the series opened. In the Sept. 24 premiere, Tony Beets explained how it’s time to mine when the river cracks and thaws.

A worried Parker Schnabel enlisted Liam Ferguson, an expert at drilling deep through overburden for gold on worked land. Last week, Schnabel said: “In this industry, as soon as you start getting desperate, people can smell it on you.”

Schnabel explained that the race for any viable land is an issue as the gold hunt must now dig deeper, and the war is on between the principal cast.

Tony Beets, who has spent 38 years mining, said: “This ain’t like any other season.” His daughter Monica Beets is pregnant, and he and his wife Minie are thrilled. He said: “You can always make more f***ing money, but you only got one family.”

Getting a jump on the season out at Duncan Creek and a 900 Horsepower Komatsu dozer and a million-dollar excavator, Rick Ness took a different approach 100 miles east of the Indian River.

Last week, he said: “Out on the Indian River, Parker and Tony are battling for the last bit of good ground… I’ve got no crew, but I am coming out fighting.” Ness is angling for at least 2000 ounces. His buddy Chris Cruse, newly married, is by his side. Karla Ann and Carl Rosk are not part of the crew this season.

The big reveal from last week is that Brennan Ruault jumped ship from Schnabel and now is working for Ness.

Meanwhile, Fred Lewis is hanging tough. The veteran will not quit and said he is on a mission to get his men paid. “It’s a treasure hunt. Who doesn’t love a treasure hunt? I will not fail again.”

Discovery’s top-rated show is Gold Rush. 

Aftershow The Dirt returns on Nov. 5 with a new look and format. Host Christo Doyle will leave the studio behind and head to the gold claims to show what life is like for the miners when the cameras aren’t rolling.

With the price of gold holding near record highs, the twist this season on Gold Rush is a scarcity of land. Most of the good ground is tied up. Now they have to dig deeper and go farther into the wilderness for pay.

Schnabel is betting on a narrow paystreak that must be mined 50 feet below the surface, and it’s costly. Beets’ goal of mining 9,000 ounces at Paradise Hill also hinges on the elusive water license on the Indian River.

Meanwhile, returning miner Rick Ness is minus two crew regulars and adds Ruault, and the new expensive dozer and excavator has him geeked up for a successful season. And Fred Lewis struck out in Oregon last season and now is in the Yukon and asks Parker Schnabel for his advice to make it this time out.

Check out the exclusive preview ahead of Friday’s episode here:

Gold Rush airs Fridays at 8 p.m. on Discovery.

Season 12 of Gold Rush premiered Friday, Sept. 24, while The Dirt is back at 10 p.m. Friday, Nov. 5.

April Neale

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