Tony Beets:
Real Life Rock Star

Today, Beets owns one of the largest privately held placer gold mines in the territory. Through his company Tamarack Inc., he holds 337 placer claims in the Klondike region near Dawson City — the same ground that sparked the legendary gold rush of 1896. His net worth is estimated between $15 million and $20 million, built almost entirely from decades of pulling gold out of Yukon gravel.

But if anyone thinks he's riding the gravy train to riches, they can think again. Throughout the seven-month mining season, Beets and his crew work 12 to 14 hours a day, often in punishing weather, battling constant breakdowns and the clock.

Despite such heroic efforts, success is never guaranteed. "I have years where I think I'm on good ground, but at the end of the day we have trouble paying our bills. The ground is always determining your fate."

What sets Beets apart from most Yukon placer miners is his mastery of bucket-line dredging — a large-scale extraction method that most operators abandoned decades ago. His most famous gamble was purchasing a 75-year-old gold dredge, originally built in the late 1930s in California and later shipped to the Yukon.

That bet paid off. The dredge became a centrepiece of both his mining operation and his storyline on Gold Rush, earning Beets the nickname "King of the Dredges." Where most modern placer miners rely on excavators and wash plants, Beets runs industrial-scale dredges that can process massive volumes of gold-bearing gravel.

In Season 16, his operations span multiple sites including Indian River and Paradise Hill, with his son Mike overseeing the trommel operation at Paradise Hill and cousin Mike handling Indian River. The scale is staggering: thousands of ounces of gold per season, pulled from ground that has been worked and reworked for over a century.

One of the perks of owning his operation is the opportunity to employ family members. Beets works alongside his wife Minnie — who handles the financial and administrative side — and their children Monica, Kevin, Mike, and Bianca have all been involved.

Season 16 has put the family dynamic under pressure. Kevin is navigating personnel challenges in his second season as a mine boss. Mike has battled one equipment issue after another getting the trommel running at Paradise Hill. And seven crew members defected from Tony's operation to rival miner Parker Schnabel — a dramatic blow during the critical stretch of the season.

Despite the tough love and the gruelling schedule, his children keep coming back each season. "Either they like me or they like my money," Beets said. "Either way, it's great to have them around."

While Beets thinks it's a risky time for newcomers to enter the business, he does not believe it is impossible. However, he encourages prospective prospectors to think small.

A little bit of good luck doesn't hurt either, but Beets is the last person to leave success to chance. "You have to give luck a little bit of a hand. Get out of bed a couple of minutes before everybody else. Don't just talk about it. You gotta get out there and make it happen."