Parker Schnabel’s Toughest Start Yet: The Battle Against Dominion Creek

A Rocky Beginning to the Season

At just 29 years old, Parker Schnabel is locked in a fight for what could be a $200 million fortune in gold. But his toughest opponent so far isn’t another miner—it’s the ground at Dominion Creek. Six weeks into the season, Parker’s operation has only managed to dig up 290 ounces of gold, a far cry from what’s needed to hit his ambitious 10,000-ounce goal.

“Right now, basically, we don’t have any wash plants running,” Parker admits, visibly nervous. “It makes me nervous when we have no plants making money.”

Roxann Shut Down

Just two weeks earlier, Parker made the difficult call to shut down his only operating wash plant, Roxann, at the Long Cut. The permafrost proved too tough to dig, forcing a complete halt in operations. But after a brief warm spell, Parker and his crew are finally ready to fire Roxann back up.

“We’ve given this ground a little bit of time to thaw out,” Parker explains. “It’s looking a lot better. We’ve got some thaw, we’ve got ourselves a pay pile, and we’re finally heading in the right direction.”

A Risky Two-Front Operation

In addition to the Long Cut, Parker is opening ground in the Bridge Cut. But taking on two cuts at once comes with complications. Water drainage is the biggest hurdle.

To keep operations running, Parker orders his crew to dig a massive drainage ditch—15 feet deeper than the existing one—to connect the Bridge Cut with Roxann’s tailings pond. If it works, the ditch will handle both the water from Roxann’s sluicing and the meltwater from the thawing Bridge Cut. If it fails, the entire cut could flood, shutting down the operation.

Digging the Mega Ditch

For an entire week, Parker’s crew works tirelessly on what becomes a 2-mile-long, 34-foot-deep “mega ditch.” Finally, the job is done.

“Well, right now, we are ready to get Roxann back rolling,” Parker says with relief. “And it feels so good to be sending water back down our ditch.”

With pay dirt piled high and the water system working, the crew fires up Roxann once again. The first scoop of dirt drops into the wash plant—a symbolic restart to a season that has been anything but easy.

“This is sluicing weather,” Parker smiles. “Let’s get it.”

Damian’s Solo Struggle

While Roxann gets back to work, Parker checks in on Damian, who has been stripping ground at Kenan Stewart’s cut almost entirely by himself.

“You’ve moved a lot of dirt by yourself, Damian,” Parker acknowledges. “It’s pretty impressive.”

But Damian admits the workload has been exhausting. “It crossed my mind to quit,” he confesses. Still, with occasional help from crew members, he pushes forward. Parker reassures him: “I don’t want us to have a falling out over this. You’ve done an incredible job.”

First Gold After Restart

After two days of run time, Parker hopes the Long Cut will deliver at least 100 ounces of gold. The cleanup begins, with the team anxiously weighing the results.

• 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60…
• Final total: 76.35 ounces, worth $190,000.

That brings Parker’s season total to 364 ounces so far.

“Well, that sucks,” Parker says bluntly, disappointment written all over his face. “Eventually that ground’s got to give up. It doesn’t have to do anything. But if we want to come back next year, something’s got to happen.”

A Season on the Edge

For Parker and his crew, the gold total is far below expectations, and the season hangs in the balance. Yet, Parker remains determined to fight on, knowing that every ounce counts toward his massive goal.

“These are the weeks that make you appreciate the good ones,” Parker reflects. “Let’s just hope it’s the week and not the season.”

With Roxann finally running and new ground opening, the battle for Dominion Creek is just beginning.