'Gold Rush' Season 10: 'Major Crisis' Faces Miners in Season Filled With New Claims and New Challenges (Exclusive)

After a decade of digging for gold in the Klondike, the Gold Rush miners' gold fever is just as intense as ever. The Discovery show will return for a groundbreaking Season 10 on Friday, Oct. 11, bringing fans an up close and personal look at new crews, challenges and claims in the hunt for gold.

Returning for another season of back-breaking work as mine boss are Parker Schnabel, Tony Beets and Rick Ness, Discovery announced exclusively to PopCulture.com Tuesday, all of whom are putting their money and their lives on the line for their chance to make a fortune — or at least break even.

It's not a promising start for the miners as a "major crisis" strikes the Yukon when the water permits fail to come through just as the price of gold spikes and a rush of new prospectors swarm the area, forcing each miner to "take massive gambles to strike it rich as they hunt for gold on new grounds."

With Ness coming off of a solid first season as the boss of his own claim, mining more than $1 million in gold, he's determined to show it wasn't a fluke, even if it means picking up and moving his whole operation to the mountains above the historic mining town of Keno City. The stakes couldn't be higher for Ness, as a misstep could threaten to bankrupt him before he even gets on his feet.

At just 25, Schnabel is finally out from under Beets as he takes on his own claim without having to shell out massive royalties to the seasoned miner. But with the water permitting issues threatening his half-million dollar investment, Schnabel will have to mine every ounce of gold in the massive new claim — a task that would normally take three years!

As the youngest of the Gold Rush miners fears he's in over his head, Beets starts off with an early jump on his new season that comes to a crashing halt when he's forced to shut down his Indian River operation due to permitting issues. It's time for his three kids, Kevin, Monica and Mike, to step up and help save the family business, but will the Beets mining empire be on speaking terms even if they do?

Don't miss the return of Gold Rush Season 10, coming to Discovery Friday, Oct. 11 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

Gold Rush is produced for Discovery Channel by Raw Television, where Dimitri Doganis, James Bates, Mike Gamson, and Tom Sheahan are executive producers and Carter Smith is co-executive producer. For Discovery Channel, Carter Figueroa is executive producer and Greg Wolf is coordinating producer.

Photo credit: Discovery