A brand-new season of Gold Rush premieres this month. The Discovery Channel reality show debuted in 2010, and viewers have basically watched Parker Schnabel grow up on screen. He reveals why he’s concerned about his future in mining. Keep reading to find out what the future holds for him.

Gold Rush Returns With New Season

There is a lot of untapped gold in Canada and the Haines, Alaska, area. Gold Rush features competing bosses, including Parker Schnabel and Tony Beets, mining gold for profit. Competition between the miners and the odds of striking it rich make the show must-see TV.

A new season kicks off on Friday, November 7, with higher stakes than ever. The gold miners have their biggest goal yet of $100 million. Will they reach it or be forced to sell their equipment and call it quits?

Parker Schnabel Opens Up About Mindset After Disappointing Season

Parker Schnabel had a disappointing Season 15. His goal was to mine $15 million in gold. But frozen ground and other issues kept him from achieving that. He lowered his expectations after falling short of his goal. He’s back for redemption in Season 16. He spoke to TV Insider ahead of the season premiere.

The outlet reported that Parker Schnabel spent over $100,000 per day in the new season in an attempt to meet an even higher goal than last season.

“Going into the season, there was definitely a lot of anticipation whether we were going to actually be able to get our production up on step where it needs to be to find that 10,000 ounces a season. That is a lot of gold. It’s a lot of work to get that done,” he told the outlet.

“That process was taking a bit longer than we had hoped,” he added.

Why He Is Concerned About Mining Future

Parker Schnabel started in the mining industry when he was a teenager. He’s seen the industry have highs and lows over the years. He opened up to TV Insider about why he’s concerned about the future of mining and his career.

He said that it was a “difficult” industry because the miners never know which way the government is going to go when it comes to approving permits. “We’re treated the exact same. That’s difficult because you would think if I do the right things, they would treat me better, right? That seems only right. That’s not the way it’s going where they’re indiscriminate. That creates confusion and lack of clarity,” he said.

The Gold Rush star added, “The lack of clarity from the government is really difficult. You see it from Donald Trump and all over the place.”

Parker Schnabel continued, “It’s a challenge to spend as much money as you possibly can a lot of the time. It’s hard to do that and keep those budgets up when you don’t know what the future has in store for it.”

“Eventually this all puts us out of business at some point in the future,” he said about his fears for the future of mining. If the mining industry and Gold Rush come to an end, he has no regrets.

“It has been a wonderful journey. I’ve enjoyed every bit of it. Some of it has been tough, but I’ve always had very good people on my side. I got extremely lucky a whole bunch of times. I’m very grateful for that because there is a lot of opportunity for it to go wrong. It has been a lot of fun. I’d do it all again in a heartbeat,” he said.