TONY BEETS PULLS OFF HIS BIGGEST CLEANUP EVER AS A HIDDEN GOLD CACHE FROM THE 1920s REAWAKENS
It was nearly a disaster. A million-dollar wash plant sinking into soup, loaders bogging down like quicksand, and puddles swallowing machines whole. But just days later, Tony Beets is celebrating his biggest gold haul of the season — and maybe his entire career.
The veteran miner known for his no-nonsense grit and bold risks spent $800,000 on a shiny new wash plant at Indian River. On day one, it nearly sank. The ground turned mushy, loader operators Chelsea and Ty Smith were losing traction, and water was pooling faster than it could drain.
“It was a swamp,” Beets said. “Everything was sinking. We had no base.”
But true to form, Tony jumped into the seat himself. Using coarse tailings, he built a raised path and redirected the water. In less than a day, the site transformed from a disaster zone into a fully operational gold recovery setup.
The result? 84.58 ounces of gold in just three days, worth over $170,000 CAD.
But that wasn’t all.
Up on Paradise Hill, Mike and his Trauml plant were pushing hard. After days of steady work, their cleanout tipped the scales at an astounding 401.9 ounces — over $800,000 in gold. Combined, it marked one of the most profitable weeks in Tony Beets’ long mining history.
A Hidden Gold Cache from the 1920s
Just as the new plant proved its worth, Beets turned his eye to a different treasure — a forgotten pile of tailings from nearly 100 years ago.
Most modern miners ignored the old heaps. But Tony, who had been eyeing the site for 35 years, knew better. Buried beneath old wooden sluice boxes were gravel piles discarded by early 20th-century miners. Their equipment was crude, their recovery poor — but the ground was rich.
In a short four-hour test run using a small trauml, the old tailings produced 4.2 ounces of gold, or roughly $7,400. That’s 1 oz per 100 yards, more than enough to justify a full-scale recovery operation.
“This old ground’s better than some of our new cuts,” Beets said, showing flakes of gold in his pan. “It’s been sitting here for a century. Time to run it proper.”
New Ground, Old Problems
Meanwhile, Kevin Beets hit a snag — literally. Up north of Mike’s cut, his excavator struck permafrost. The frozen ground threatened to halt operations until test digs revealed a nearby thawed section — dark, damp pay dirt up to 40 feet deep.
With Mike on one end and Kevin on the other, the crew now eyes a massive 700 sq ft mega cut, full of clean gravel and gold-rich material. Monica Beets keeps her smaller cut steady, ensuring all three wash plants feed into the growing gold pile.
Fire on the Horizon
As smoke rolls in from nearby wildfires, the pressure’s on. The Yukon is dry, and the risk of shutdowns looms. But for now, the ground is finally giving back, and the Beets crew is in full swing.
“It’s working,” Tony said. “Both plants, old dirt, new gear — everything’s coming together. We just have to keep it that way.”
