Parker Schnabel Faces Disaster as Wildfire Closes In on His Mine
Parker Schnabel Faces Disaster as Wildfire Closes In on His Mine
Did you see the fire on the road?
It is raging and you could see like the line of fire.
It’s pretty impressive.
I don’t think it jumps the creek though, so I think you’re fine.
What would you do if a wildfire was 2 m from your mining operation and closing fast?
Your safety team says evacuate.
Flames are visible from the road.
The smoke is so thick your crew can barely see the wash plant.
Every instinct says run.
But there’s $2.5 million in gold sitting in that ground.
And if you leave now, you might never get the chance to pull it out.
Parker Schnobble faced that exact choice this week.
93 wildfires were burning across the Yukon.
One was headed straight for Dominion Creek.
And Parker made a call that shocked everyone on his crew.
Like the worst thing that can happen is like, you know, the roads engulfed in flames.
He kept digging.
710 O.
That’s what he pulled from the ground while the Klondike burned.
The question is, how close did disaster actually get?
The inferno arrives.
Parker’s truck rolls to a stop on the access road.
Through the windshield, the crew watches an orange wall of flame chew through the tree line.
The fire crackles and roars like a living thing, hungry, relentless, and getting closer by the minute.
The film crew safety coordinator doesn’t hesitate.
Right now, the film crew safety is telling us that we have to get out of the truck.
So, right now the film crew safety is telling us that we have to get out of the truck.
You can feel the heat.
Yeah.
Really?
I think we got to we got to pull it through now.
How come?
Just we aren’t looking at a wildfire.
Even from inside the vehicle, the heat presses against the windows like a physical force.
Step outside and it hits you.
A dry, searing wave that tightens your throat and makes your eyes water.
The air tastes like campfire and chemicals thick with ash that coats your tongue and grits between your teeth.
You can feel the heat, someone mutters.
The crazy part is just hours earlier, the crew thought it was an overcast morning.
Gray skies, low visibility, normal Yukon weather.
But that wasn’t cloud cover overhead.
That was smoke.
A massive blanket of it rolling in from dozens of wildfires burning across the territory.
Those fires were impressive, man, Parker admits later.
That was crazy.
Came out of nowhere and all of a sudden it’s like, man, it’s really cloudy this morning.
That’s not clouds, that’s smoke.
But Parker isn’t ready to run.
Not yet.
Obviously, you have a job to do, he tells the safety team.
But the fact that we can see it means it’s not moving fast towards us.
If it was moving fast towards us, this would be all black smoke where we’re standing.
Obviously, you have a job to do.
But the fact that we can see it means it’s not moving fast towards us.
If it was moving fast towards us, this would be all black smoke where we’re standing.
One of the crew members shifts nervously.
What’s the plan?
Where are we going to go?
I’m just going to sulfur, Parker replies calmly.
Just going to go check in with the boys.
When you can’t see it and all you can see is smoke, that’s when it’s really sketchy.
It’s a calculated gamble.
The kind that separates successful miners from bankrupt ones.
Okay.
Well, let’s carry on then.
Let’s go.
The scale of disaster.
Over the last seven days, the Yukon has transformed into a hellscape.
You know, we’re on a mission right now trying to get to this 10,000 ounce target, and it seems like things might heat up a little bit on us here.
We got some fires burning just down the creek.
They’re heading this way, but uh hopefully we can keep everything motoring along here.
93 separate wildfires are raging across the territory, consuming more than 250,000 acres of wilderness.
To put that in perspective, that’s an area larger than New York City, just gone, reduced to smoke and ash.
The conditions are catastrophic.
With strong winds, these fires can travel over 150 m in a single day.
That’s fast enough to outrun any vehicle on these back roads.
Fast enough to trap a mining crew before they even know they’re in danger.
And right now, two of those fires are bearing down on Parker’s operations.
One blaze burns just two miles from his Dominion Creek operation, the crown jewel of his mining empire.
Another sits barely one mile from his Sulfur Creek claim.
Here’s the catch.
Mitch and his team at Sulfur Creek aren’t just racing against the fire.
They’re racing against a water license that expires in exactly 2 weeks.
No water license means no slooing.
No slooing means any gold left in that ground stays there permanently.
Any evacuation, even a temporary one, could mean leaving hundreds of thousands of dollars in the dirt.
The Sulfur Creek gamble.
Parker drives through the haze towards Sulfur Creek.
Visibility drops with every mile.
What should be a clear view of the surrounding hills is now a gray wall of smoke that swallows everything beyond 50 yard.
Ash drifts down like gray snow, settling on the windshield.
When he arrives, the fire is visible from the wash plant.
An angry orange line cutting through the forest on the ridge above.
The crew works with bandanas pulled over their faces, eyes red and watering from the smoke.
“Did you see the fire on the road?” Parker asks.
“It is raging.
You could see the line of fire.
It’s pretty impressive.”
Mitch looks up from the equipment, face streaked with soot and sweat.
“I don’t think it jumps the creek, though,” Parker continues, assessing the terrain.
“So, I think you’re fine.
The worst thing that can happen is the roads engulfed in flames.”
Mitch considers this.
I mean, as long as we got a way out.
The wash plant roars to life, drowning out the distant crackle of burning timber.
Every bucket of pay dirt could be worth thousands of dollars.
Every hour they keep running is another hour closer to cleaning out this claim.
Well, looks like we got about two more scoops of material here and sulfur to go through Roxan.
We’re going to get this wash plant shut down, cleaned up, packed up, and on the road down to Ken’s.
And hopefully we got her fired back up here before Parker shows up.
We had Roxanne fired up before Parker got back, Mitch reports.
Our next step here is just to try and get this loose as fast as we can.
We’re going to try and turn all that dirt into a big pile of gold.
The king’s philosophy.
Two miles from the flames, legendary miner Tony Beats offers a different perspective.
At 65 years old, the king of the Klondike has seen every disaster the Yukon can throw at a mining operation.
His philosophy is brutally simple.
When you look at the sky, it’s just covered in smoke, Tony observes.
They can burn whatever they want.
The gold in the ground don’t care.
While the gold price is high, don’t sit there and think you got it made.
Just keep on going.
As long as we can keep on slooing, it doesn’t matter.
Don’t miss the opportunity.
It’s not that simple, though.
Even Tony can’t escape setbacks this week.
Electrical issues have cost his operation two full days of production.
But his words echo in Parker’s mind as the younger miner pushes his crews to keep running despite the flames.
The gold in the ground don’t care, so why should they?
Racing the flames.
Back at Dominion Creek, Parker’s main operation continues at full throttle.
The smoke is thick enough that crews rely on headlights during daylight hours.
Ash accumulates on every surface.
Every breath feels like inhaling a campfire, but the wash plants keep running.
Right now, we have three plants running, Parker explains.
Dominion’s going good, and things at Sulfur.
Mitch and Brennan are doing really well.
Right now, we have three plants running.
Dominion’s going good and things at Sulfur.
Mitch and Brandon are doing really well.
I really thought they were going to be done at Sulfur sooner.
The target this season is ambitious.
10,000 ounces of gold.
At current prices, that’s north of $25 million.
It would be the biggest season of Parker’s career.
We’re on a mission right now trying to get to this 10,000 ounce target, he says.
And it seems like things might heat up a little bit on us here.
We got some fires burning just down the creek.
They’re heading this way, but hopefully we can keep everything motoring along.
A veteran crew member pulls Parker aside.
You sure about this, boss?
That fire’s getting closer.
Parker looks at the orange glow through the trees.
Looks at the wash plant churning through pay dirt.
Looks at the gold waiting to be weighed.
When you can’t see the flames anymore, when it’s all just black smoke, that’s when we run.
Until then, we keep digging.
The Sulfur Creek finale.
Against all odds, Mitch and Brennan accomplish the impossible.
Despite the wildfires.
Despite smoke so thick it burns their lungs.
They wash the last of the gold rich pay dirt from Sulfur Creek with days to spare.
That’s the last of sulfur, Mitch confirms, exhaustion and triumph mixing in his voice.
The final cleanup produces 221.2 O of gold.
Over the course of the season, this single claim has produced more than 1,300 O.
Nice.
Parker nods.
That’s a solid solid end.
Sulfur produced over 1,300 O.
Quite impressive.
But that’s just the appetizer.
The main course is waiting at Dominion Creek.
The 710 miracle.
The moment of truth arrives.
Parker gathers with his crew for the weekly weigh-in.
The gold pulled from the ground while wildfires rage just 2 m away.
First up, the Golden Mile Cut.
This section has been averaging 200 O per week all season.
The gold pours onto the scale.
20 oz.
40.
80.
120.
Parker watches, arms crossed.
The crew exchanges glances.
273.15 O.
Wow.
Parker’s eyebrows shoot up.
Amazing.
Sick.
That was a good week.
20 40 120 140 160 200 230 250 273.15.
Wow.
Amazing.
Sick.
That was a good week.
But they’re not done.
The bridge cut still needs to be weighed.
Operated by veteran miner Bob, averaging 160 ounces weekly.
The gold hits the scale.
Parker leans forward.
Wait.
216.15 O.
The crew goes quiet.
Parker’s doing the math.
Eyes going wide.
This week we have…
He pauses, checks the numbers again.
710.5 O.
Silence.
So, our total for the season is 4,251.7 O.
We’re definitely on track for our 10,000.
We’re in good.
We’re in good shape, you guys.
Keep it that way.
Then someone lets out a low whistle.
We broke 700 ounces in one week.
Parker stands there, jaw tight, processing what just happened.
Then a grin breaks across his face.
The kind that comes from beating impossible odds.
710 O pulled from the ground while the Yukon burned.
Worth $2.5 million in a single week.
The scoreboard.
So, here’s the deal.
With smoke still hanging in the Yukon air and wildfires still burning on the horizon, Parker tallies his season total.
Sulfur Creek finale: 221.2 oz.
Golden Mile cut: 273.15 oz.
Bridge cut: 216.15 oz.
Weekly total: 710.5 O worth $2.5 million.
Our total for the season is 4,251.7 O, Parker announces.
We’re definitely on track for our 10,000.
We’re in good shape.
You guys keep it that way.
The wildfires haven’t beaten Parker Schnobble.
Not yet.
His crews have produced record gold while flames licked at his claims.
While smoke choked the air.
While every instinct said to run.
But the season isn’t over.
The fires are still burning.
And in the Klondike, anything can happen.
Parker is on pace for $35 million.
But the Yukon isn’t done fighting back.
93 wildfires are still burning across the territory.
And any one of them could force an evacuation that ends his record chase.
Do you think he can hit 10,000 ounces before the fires force him to shut down?
Let us know in the comments below.
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