Gold Rush - Parker's Trail

Apparently, this is a highly concentrated area for gold.

Seems like a really cool opportunity.

And, um... And if there's... you know...

...actually some gold down there, it would be...

...pretty cool.

It's quite weird isn't it? Normally you're getting out of the water

when there's sharks.

We're gettin' in. Well, Parker is.

It would take me a million dollars to jump in right now.

It looks like such a nice place, do you know what I mean?

No! It looks shark-y.

All right, Parker, so I've got a little jar we'll take down there

'cause I'm quite fascinated by the gold industry in this area.

So if you can fill this up down there, the most likely area,

because all this valley was mined for gold.

No one's ever looked here, and, uh, largely that's because of the ocean,

and perhaps it's because of the sharks.

Is that a great white shark?

There it is, right there!

Right in front of him. Right bang next to him.

There's a hell of a lot of snow up here, huh?

It's, um...

The temp, -16.

This is why we mine in the summer time.

Last season, Parker Schnabel weighed in $15 million of gold.

A single season record for the 27 year old miner.

We had a good season, we made money.

I'm gonna look back on this season as one of the,

like, most productive and easiest.

But, we're trying to expand into Alaska.

We've the opportunity to take 10 years of really good learning experiences...

...and apply that to an operation fully from scratch.

Nine years ago...

Parker left his grandpa's mine in Alaska

to strike it big in the Yukon.

I look upon you like the eagle, when they...

...fluffs his wings and flies outta the nest.

And since then has mined nearly 50,000 ounces of gold,

worth almost $70 million.

3,362.

Good job!

Thank you.

Now, to grow his empire...

...he's going back home.

Alaska has a ton of really rich mining history.

Really good ground.

That's 100 ounces.

Like, advanced payment.

If you don't show up next year,

and you're not mining, that's mine.

Located just outside Fairbanks...

...this historic gold rich land

could make Parker $11 million in a single season.

Alaska really excites me, you know?

But we don't have that much time to get this all setup.

Parker has just four months to boot up an entire operation,

and be mining in the spring.

We need pumps, generators, light towers, backup pumps, backup generators,

and we need to find a wash plant.

To help him...

Yeah, cool.

...Parker has asked along Danny Etheridge.

"Meet him by the gold pan," he said.

Nice touch.

Pretty sure...

...that the point of putting me next to a massive gold pan...

...is to accentuate my size.

For three off-seasons,

Danny has been by Parker's side documenting every adventure.

Watch out!

Hey!

Danny's been trying to kill me for years.

These are the two largest nuggets I have ever found.

Shut up!

Danny, he's one of my best friends.

It's important to have people around you that you like to work with.

And it'll be good to have Danny along.

And, you know...

...figure out, um...

...figure out how we're gonna...

...solve some big mining problems.

I'm pumped.

And, um, the best thing about it...

Oh my.

You make this normal size gold pan look huge!

Scared the out of me, man.

Oh, my.

Dude, look at you!

I know, mate, I'm freezing.

About 27 layers on.

Better get used to it.

We're going to the middle of nowhere.

- You ready to rock? - Ready to rock.

What is going on?

I'm starting another operation up in Alaska next summer.

Amazing.

So we need to get a bunch of equipment,

and a wash plant, and all that stuff.

And, like, the big key pieces...

...um, I wanna get a big jump on.

How much will it cost to set up an operation there in Alaska?

5 million.

What?

You serious?

Me.

Doesn't actually buy you very much in the steel world.

You know, prices have gone crazy.

Within Parker's $5 million Alaska startup budget...

He set aside $1 million for the most important piece of equipment.

In terms of, like, building a new operation,

and what our goal is this winter...

...is like...

We need to find a wash plant...

...first and foremost.

And that's... you know, that's the basis that everything is built around.

What's the plan? Do you know where we're goin'?

- There's a trommel for sale up here. - Oh, wicked.

Both our wash plants in the Yukon are screen decks.

But trommels can run any type of material.

And we run into, even on the Indian river sometimes,

not too often but sometimes, we'll run into like clay and whatnot.

That's why Tony Beets runs trommels on Paradise hill.

The stuff in Fairbanks is pretty clean,

but there's, like, tons of clay in it.

And... And you have to run that in a trommel

and beat it up and really, you know, massage it.

This is the place.

There.

- All right, let's go look at this thing. - Let's have a look.

This 15-year-old turnkey trommel,

has a list price of $66,000.

Well within Parker's $1 million wash plant budget.

It doesn't look in that bad nick.

From a...

...design standpoint, they're, like, you know, very portable.

Easy to move around. It's on wheels, that's a good idea.

The problem with this is that it's just too small.

Like, this is a, you know, 50 or 60 yard an hour wash plant.

But...

...if you had, like, a supersized version of this,

I could see something like that working.

All right, I'm calling the guy that owns this thing,

and, um...

...I'm gonna talk to him.

Hey, Pete!

Hey buddy, how's it goin'?

I'm standing next to your trommel.

What do ya think?

Little small for our, uh... for our setups.

It is a small trommel.

Yeah, yeah. You know, it's definitely, um...

I mean it fits the bill in terms of being super portable,

and, um, compact.

But... you know, what is it? 60, 70 yards an hour?

Yeah.

Yeah, a little small for us.

I do have one at, uh, a property I have out in a place called Barkerville,

which is in the Caribou mountains.

Can we get to it?

You better have your, uh, winter woollies,

because it's quite a journey to go see this thing.

He says dress warm for the next place we're goin'.

The guy that's with me is definitely dressed warm.

He's got about eight puffy coats on.

Think the weather forecast is -25, so it's not too bad.

But definitely frostbite material.

All right.

All right, we'll, um... we'll head that way.

Come on up.

Yeah.

Talk soon.

Yeah, see ya soon.

All right.

- What're you smiling at? - He's got another bigger trommel.

- Right. - And, um...

And he said, "We can get to it but it's out in the middle of nowhere,

so, like, dress warm."

So, we'll see. Hopefully the next one's in, like, good shape,

and, um, is something that we want.

All right, let's get the out of here.

Parker and Danny head 50 miles to the remote mining outpost of Barkerville.

Ah, there we go.

That him?

- Yeah, that's Pete. - Sweet.

- Hey, man. - Hey, kid!

- How's it goin'? - Good, how are you?

Mining gold, since the age of 12...

Pete Wright has 40 years' experience in the industry.

I've heard lots about ya.

I'm excited to find out.

- I feel like it's a bit shrouded in mystery this trip. - Yeah.

What's goin' on?

Yeah, well...

We're talking about trommels, man.

Yeah, and you used to mine around here, right?

Well, yeah, I was here for almost 15 years mining,

I came down from the Yukon...

- Gotcha. - ...and, uh, started an operation down here.

So where is this trommel at?

The one that we're goin' to look at is the big monster barrel.