Gold Rush: Rick Ness Battles Machine Breakdowns and Low Gold Yields at Crew Cut

A double loader failure brings operations to a standstill — and the crew’s week ends in frustration

It’s another chaotic week on Gold Rush, and Rick Ness’s crew is feeling the full weight of Yukon mining life. After striking gold — literally — in Rally Valley, pulling in 900 ounces in just three weeks, the good times have run dry. Rally Valley is now mined out, forcing Rick’s team to move fast in search of their next big payday at Crew Cut.

But almost as soon as they fire up the wash plant, disaster strikes.

A Mechanical Meltdown

Machine issues plague the crew from the start. Loader operator Kyle finds himself stranded when his vehicle’s parking brake refuses to release.

“I can’t go forward — the parking brake’s not coming off,” Kyle radios in.

Mechanic Ryan rushes over to help, diagnosing the problem as a blown accessory drive belt — a small but critical component that powers the air compressor and alternator. Without it, the batteries won’t charge, and the loader can’t move.

The crew scrambles to reroute air pressure and get the massive machine out of the way. Every minute counts — with the wash plant idling, no dirt means no gold.

“Any kind of downtime puts us behind,” Rick says, pacing anxiously. “We need this loader fired up and out of the way.”

One Fix, Another Failure

After a quick repair, the crew breathes a sigh of relief — until disaster number two hits. The backup loader’s tilt linkage snaps clean in half, halting production again.

“I’ve never seen one of those snap like that,” Ryan mutters, inspecting the damage. “She’s been welded before. This old girl’s had a hard life.”

The break is severe enough to shut the entire operation down — both loaders are now out of commission, leaving the crew unable to feed pay dirt to the plant.

“That’s not something simple to replace,” Rick admits. “We’re kind of dead in the water.”

After hours of frantic welding, wrenching, and teamwork, Ryan manages to get the first loader back online — a small victory that keeps the season alive.

Counting the Cost

Once production resumes, Rick’s crew pushes hard, running Crew Cut pay for nearly a week. But when it’s time to weigh their cleanup, the results are grim.

9.28 ounces of gold — worth just over $23,000.

“That’s horrible,” Rick says flatly. “I’ll take the blame for that.”

The gold barely covers the cost of parts, let alone fuel and labor. Crew Cut, once promising, has turned into a money pit.

“If we didn’t have those big cleanups earlier in the season,” Rick admits, “we’d be going home right now.”

A Race Against Time

Despite the setbacks, Rick isn’t giving up. He knows mining is a game of highs and lows — and the next cut could turn everything around.

“Some of it’s good, some of it leans out,” he says. “Crew Cut’s obviously over. We’ve got to find better ground — and we’ve got to find it fast.”

As Gold Rush continues, Rick’s hunt for new ground — and redemption — is far from over.