Every season of Discovery’s “Gold Rush” follows a few different teams that set out mining for gold. Many miners have come and gone from the program over the years, but one who’s remained consistent is Parker Schnabel. He was first introduced on the series in its first season working on his grandfather’s mine. However, starting with Season 2 when his grandfather stepped down, Schnabel assumed control of the operations, and he’s been going strong ever since, regularly being one of the most successful miners on the show.
Estimates report that Schnabel is worth in the neighborhood of $10 million. That’s a lot of gold to dig up out of the ground, especially considering he’s been hard at work at it for well over a decade at this point. How does Schnabel manage to get so much done and turn a nice profit for himself and his team? He believes it comes down to one major factor.
Parker Schnabel’s lack of complacency gives him an edge
Parker Schnabel has been in this industry for a long time. While he’s only 28 at the time of writing, he was 15 years old during the first season, and he was already out in the field. He clearly loves this line of work, as he revealed in an interview with The Malestrom. When asked about what he does to avoid getting stressed out, he admitted that he doesn’t get stressed too often, mentioning, “You just kind of get focused on working and most of the time it doesn’t bother you too much.”
Schnabel then reflected on what he does to give himself a competitive edge. He’s consistently turned a profit on mining operations over the years, so he must have something going for him. As he explained, “I think a big part of it is not getting complacent, we always try to find the next thing or the next person that’s going to improve the business and make things run better and smarter, to find the next season’s ground, or whatever it is. We always try to continue improving.”
Fans of the “Gold Rush” franchise could see this in action on the spin-off series, “Gold Rush: Parker’s Trail.” In the 2022 season, Schnabel left his usual Alaskan digs to seek out gold in New Zealand. The country is home to some of the most innovative miners out there, and Schnabel traveled a long distance to learn all he could from them (via Discovery). Schnabel even dove with sharks during his exploits, so he’s clearly not afraid to get outside of his comfort zone if it means retrieving greater quantities of gold.