Gold Rush: What Was Tyler Mahoney's Biggest Find?

Discovery's Alaska-set gold mining saga "Gold Rush" has been one of the biggest hits in the network's reality programming slate pretty much since it debuted. While viewers continue to tune in to witness the gold-digging feats of longtime stars like Parker Schnabel, Tony Beets, and Todd Hoffman, a few savvy outsiders have managed to work their way into the action over the years. And among those outsiders, Tyler Mahoney is one who continues to make a unique mark on the Yukon landscape.

As it was, Mahoney made her first "Gold Rush" appearance on the Schnabel-centric spinoff series, "Gold Rush: Parker's Trail," helping the fan-favorite miner search for the gold stuff in the Australian outback. She is, of course, enlisted in that endeavor because of her already solid reputation in the mining game Down Under, even appearing in the hit series, "Aussie Gold Hunters." As covered in a recent interview with Daily Mail, that reputation had been well-earned, with Mahoney once even finding a massive gold nugget that weighed in at a full five ounces. And as the article notes, it remains the biggest find of her mining career.

The Daily Mail piece quickly qualifies that fact by pointing out it may not be the biggest discovery of Mahoney's career, as she was also once responsible for uncovering a substantial ironstone lode. According to the piece, said ironstone deposit likely produced ten times the weight of that massive gold nugget.

Tyler Mahoney's success on "Gold Rush," and in the mining business generally, is hardly a fluke. Just like most of the hard-working miners on the hit Discovery series, she was pretty much born into the gold game, as it's been her family's business for a couple of generations. And that business has historically been run out of the desert lands of Australia, which is, of course, where "Gold Rush" fans first meet the young miner on "Gold Rush: Parker's Trail."

As covered in the Daily Mail piece, gold fever indeed runs through the Mahoney bloodline, with the "Gold Rush" star writing fondly of her life in the mining game in the memoir "Gold Digger." In the course of telling her family's story, she admits that even after spending the bulk of her life in mining camps, she still gets a legitimate kick out of a big find. "It is such a dopamine rush," Mahoney told Daily Mail. 'It's quite addictive, hence the gold fever." She went on to point out that prospecting itself doesn't actually pay unless you find something, savvily quipping, "I don't get a set salary from gold prospecting. I get paid in gold."

The article goes on to cover in detail the parts of Mahoney's book in which she details the ongoing gender disparities, and outright harassment that continue to plague women trying to make it as a miner. But if you've seen the fearless Mahoney at work in any of her "Gold Rush" appearances, you know she's doing all she can to change that unfortunate aspect of the mining industry.