A lot of big moves are part of Season 7 of Gold Rush. Todd Hoffman moved his entire mining operation out of the Klondike and to the Blue Mountains of Oregon — specifically, High Bar Mine in northeast Oregon — where they are striking out BIG TIME on finding gold. While Todd was inspired by his original prospecting trips he took to the mine last year — actually, he was so inspired that he set this season’s goal at 5,000 ounces — things aren’t looking good right now and his staff is starting to address their concerns. “We’re getting our ass kicked pretty bad up here, this isn’t turning out like how I dreamed,” Hoffman shares in a preview to this week’s episode (Friday, Oct. 21 at 9pm ET on Discovery). “Right now it’s not going good.”
Here’s a clip to this week’s episode of Gold Rush:
While no one has ever set up a full commercial operation at High Bar Mine, Hoffman believed this would be a huge opportunity for his family and team. He said in the season opener: “This is going to be our promise land … Just think about. We climbed a mountain let’s climb all the way to the peak. I want to see a miracle on this mountain.” Hopefully that miracle will come in quick time.
Other big moves we saw in the season opener included Tony Beets looking to re-engineer another dredge. “People thought I was crazy, but it makes lots of @#$%ing money,” Beets said in the premiere episode. “So I’m doubling down. I bought another dredge and I’m going to have to shift it 150 miles down the @#$%ing river.” To do this the entire Beets family is working with him — Monica’s assembled a girl-power team, and Kevin and Mike are trying to keep the current dredge afloat.
As for Parker, he’s cut his team in half and is looking to deliver the same amount of gold as they mined last year, unless his claim owner (Tony Beets) makes some changes to his royalty, or if Parker finds another opportunity.
MORE: Parker Schnabel on Season 7, his new girlfriend and his new TV show.
Last week’s Season 7 premiere of Gold Rush was ratings gold for Discovery Channel, as the premiere episode was ranked as the No. 1 show on all of TV on Friday night among males 18-49 and males 18-34. It was also cable’s No. 1 telecast across all 25-52, 18-49 and 18-34 demos, even beating out TBS’ American League Championship series games.