On tonight’s edition of Gold Rush: Parker’s Trail, it’s raining gold nuggets in the humid and densely forested mountains of Papua New Guinea!
Monsters’ and Critics’ exclusive clip shows emotional scenes as Parker and his team help villagers uncover lump after lump of the precious metal.
Sam Brown, the British photographer now on his third “Trail” jaunt with Parker, reveals he has never seen such a nugget-filled location in his entire career, and Karla Ann is shown totally gobsmacked at the large bits of gold showing up every time they dip the pan in the rocky, soil-filled waters.
It’s exciting to see unfold, with the local people set to benefit from the lucrative haul.
Having tackled the frigid and rocky Klondike trails beset with snow and ice and the really buggy and humid clime of Guyana, Parker Schnabel has found a happy medium — albeit fraught with some challenges — in lush Papua New Guinea.
Parker and his crew are working in really tough conditions on this remote island made up of mountainous terrain covered with green tropical rainforest.
A few weeks back, Parker was dealing with toxic mercury used by miners in a remote village which made him jump in to build a barrier to keep dangerous fumes from spreading, all while dealing with a surprise flash flood.
Also in past episodes, Parker and his crew helped a local family mine in the highlands, but a devastating landslide meant their livelihood was always hanging by a thread based on the location’s mercurial climate and seismic activity.
An early encounter with a group of machete-wielding locals tested the team’s preparedness for the region’s dangerous conditions after Parker and the the others went in search of abandoned WWII tunnels.
In this Gold Rush spin-off series, Parker is also following the explorers and prospectors of the 20th century, specifically Mick Leahy, and in Papua New Guinea there is a real present-day gold rush that is dominating the world news.
In our exclusive clip, Karla Ann says: “I’m nervous, I think everybody’s nervous, because we’ve got the whole community relying on us.”
Looking excited yet still restrained, Fred says: “Right now I guess I’m kind of holding my breath.”
Parker, holding a nugget up, says: “Here’s one!”
Looking intently as Parker sluices the pan, Sam chimes in and says: “A few more of those pans we can all get gold cap teeth!”
He adds: “This is spectacular. Dude…I’ve never seen that many nuggets in a pan before. I’ve been filming gold mines for most of my adult life…and that’s one of the richest pans I’ve ever seen.”
Make sure to tune in to see how much gold they pull out in total!
Gold Rush: Parker’s Trail returns Friday, April 5 at 9/8c on Discovery.