Gold Rush’s Parker Schnabel on the ‘Fork in the Road’ That Forced Him to Face His ‘Biggest Fear’ (Exclusive)

Warning: This post contains spoilers from the first episode of the Discovery Channel Gold rush, season 14.

In 10 years, Parker Schnabel mined the Canadian territory of Yukon Gold rush veteran he’s never gambled as much as he did in last week’s episode.

In the final moments of the reality show’s season premiere, Schnabel, 29, handed over a check for $15 million to buy Dominion Creek, a large tract of virgin land that could potentially yield 80,000 ounces of gold worth $160 million. But the gold in Dominion Creek is buried 40 feet underground, which would require him to spend millions of dollars more to mine it all out.

For Schnabel, making the decision to spend $15 million upfront was a challenging process.

“We were at a real crossroads in terms of taking bigger risks … spending a bunch of money on new ground or downsizing,” he told PEOPLE during a recent interview. “We had a really big choice to make at the beginning of the season, and those big decisions are very important.”

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‘Gold Rush’ star Parker Schnabel in season 14.

Courtesy: Discovery Channel / Raw TV Limited

Making the wrong decision would destroy you Gold rush star, whose business has grown significantly over the past decade to include a crew that depends on it for their livelihood.

“I’d probably rather lose money and keep the whole team than downsize, honestly,” he admits, adding that even “getting out of the business completely” seemed a more attractive option than “downsizing.”

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But maintaining his business requires “a lot of revenue,” Schnabel admits.

“We’re not a lean and mean little nimble team or anything like that,” he continues. “We need a lot of ground and we need a lot of ground ounces to stay afloat, because we’re a big operation. And my number one concern was that we had built this really good team and I didn’t want to blow that up. That was my biggest fear.”

‘Gold Rush’ star Parker Schnabel in the show’s previous season.

Discovery Communications

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When asked if the Dominion Creek purchase was worth the $15 million he spent, Schnabel says he’s taking a wait-and-see attitude.

“We’ll see how much it pays off,” he says, adding that Dominion Creek is a “long-term investment.” “We won’t know whether it’s worth it from a profit standpoint for a few more years.”

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Gold rush airs Fridays at 8:00 PM ET on the Discovery Channel, with the entire series carried by Max.

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Source: HIS Education