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‘Gold Rush’ Star Parker Schnabel Doesn’t Believe His Career Is Sustainable

One of the fan favorites on the Discovery Channel reality series “Gold Rush,” Parker Schnabel has been in the gold mining game for a long time.

As good as the gold mining industry has been to Parker Schnabel, there are plenty of ups and downs. He knows there is a limited amount of gold out there for him and his team to find. He also must compete against other gold-hungry mining teams to claim what gold there is still out there. This forms the basis of “Gold Rush” and the gold mining industry. In a recent Facebook chat, Schnabel questions if his career is sustainable.

“So that’s the big struggle,” he says while chatting with “Gold Rush” fans. There is this kind of — I guess what I’m trying to say is, the goal of every mining company is to put itself out of business. And your job is to mine as efficiently as possible and make as much money per ounce that you’re finding as you can.”

Schnabel has been a featured miner on “Gold Rush” since the beginning and he has won over the show’s huge fan base. He was still in diapers when got into the gold-digging industry, coming to work on his Grandfather’s Alaskan claim at a very young age. “Gold Rush” fans have watched Schnabel grow as both a miner and a human being. He’s had his fair share of tense moments on the show, including disagreements with members of his crew. But the expert gold miner keeps plugging away, accumulating scraps of gold ounce by ounce. It is his perseverance and never say never attitude that has made him a favorite of the “Gold Rush” viewers. if anyone has insight into the depths of the gold mining industry — it’s Parker Schnabel.

‘Gold Rush’ Star Talks Ins and Outs of the Gold Mining Business

On the surface, the gold mining industry seems fairly simple and straightforward. You dog through the ground looking for the precious shiny metal and then turn around and sell it. But the gold-mining business is anything but simple. Schnabel and other “Gold Rush” crew must invest millions of dollars in expensive machinery, land leases and employee play. Gone are the days of placing a pan in a flowing stream and coming away with specks

“The biggest problem that we face is just, that as an industry — in the real world they would call it the ‘total addressable market,’ right — which is, if you sell, you know, newspapers, you can only sell newspapers to so many people,” Schnabel says. “In mining, in plaster mining in the Yukon, there’s only so many ounces of gold in the ground. And we’re all fighting for the same ounces.”

And keep fighting he will for the shiny metal — which is what makes “Gold Rush” one of the most popular reality shows on television.