Hank Schimschat Net Worth: Sources, Estimates, and How to Verify

No verified, date-stamped net worth figure for Hank Schimschat exists on any major wealth-tracking platform as of May 2026. What public records do confirm is that he is an Nome, Alaska-based offshore placer gold miner, the owner of Gold Grabber LLC, and the operator behind the 80-foot barge dredge called the AU Grabber, best known from the Discovery Channel series Bering Sea Gold. Based on the publicly documented assets, business dealings, and income sources available, a rough estimate in the low-to-mid six figures is plausible, but that number carries significant uncertainty and should be treated as an informed inference rather than a confirmed valuation.

Which Hank Schimschat are we talking about?

There is only one publicly documented individual named Hank Schimschat, and the digital paper trail is consistent and narrow: a Nome, Alaska gold miner who owns and operates offshore dredging equipment and appeared as himself on Bering Sea Gold. His IMDb credit (nm6166659) lists him as appearing as himself, with an 'Owner: Au Grabber' credit. His LinkedIn profile confirms the same location (Nome, Alaska) and the same occupational label. There is no evidence of a second person by this name in entertainment, business, finance, or any other sector.

Spelling variants do come up in searches. You may see 'Schimshat,' 'Schmischat,' or 'Schimscatt,' but these all appear to be misspellings of the same surname. The GlobeNewswire press release from July 9, 2014, which names him as 'Hank Schimschat, owner of Gold Grabber LLC,' is the most formal public document and uses the 'Schimschat' spelling throughout. That is the authoritative form. Wikipedia's AU Grabber page also identifies a Richard Schimschat in connection with the same dredge, suggesting Schimschat is a family surname with more than one member involved in the operation at different times.

It is also worth distinguishing Hank Schimschat from the fictional character Hank Schrader from Breaking Bad, who is sometimes searched alongside real mining figures on this type of site. If you came here searching for the specific figure, the fred schrader net worth profile is a related option to compare with real-world mining wealth trajectories like this one. If your search instead meant the fictional Hank Schrader, then a related comparison point is how different net worth pages handle estimated income for public figures versus real miners like Hank Schimschat ward schraeder net worth. They share no connection. If you landed here looking for financial profiles of other real individuals with similar surnames, separate profiles cover people like Ken Schrader (NASCAR driver and team owner) and Harland Schraufnagel, each with their own distinct wealth trajectories. Harland Schraufnagel has his own separate background and reported wealth trajectory that should not be mixed up with Hank Schimschat. Ken Schrader is a different public figure, and his net worth coverage depends on his racing career and team ownership rather than Hank Schimschat's mining assets Ken Schrader (NASCAR driver and team owner).

Career background and income sources

Hank Schimschat's primary and documented income source is offshore placer gold mining in the waters near Nome, Alaska. This is a seasonal, capital-intensive industry where miners dredge the seabed for gold deposits using equipment that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to build and maintain. KNOM Radio reported in June 2014 that Schimschat filed permits to expand operations into state-owned DNR land near Teller (Grantley Harbor), which signals active growth ambitions at that time.

His television exposure came through Bering Sea Gold on Discovery Channel, where he appeared as himself. Reality TV fees for non-celebrity cast members on cable documentary series are rarely disclosed but generally range from a few thousand to low tens of thousands of dollars per season for recurring participants. That income is secondary and unlikely to be the largest line item in any wealth estimate.

A third income stream emerged in 2014 when Mexus Gold US, a publicly traded mining company, signed a contract with Schimschat through Gold Grabber LLC to purchase an interest in his Nome offshore gold mining operation. The deal, announced via GlobeNewswire on July 9, 2014, included compensation of 1.2 million restricted shares of Mexus Gold US stock. The value of those shares at the time of the announcement and their eventual realized value (restricted shares often cannot be sold immediately and are subject to lock-up periods) is not publicly documented in follow-up filings that surfaced in research.

According to Wikipedia's AU Grabber entry, Hank Schimschat retired from active mining in 2019. After retirement, he reportedly hired out the AU Grabber, meaning the asset continued generating income as a leased or contracted dredge operation rather than one he personally operated.

Business holdings, ownership stakes, and major assets

The most concrete asset in the public record is the AU Grabber itself. Wikipedia's entry on the dredge states it cost $600,000 to build or acquire. That figure, if accurate, represents the single largest documented financial data point connected to Schimschat's wealth. An 80-foot barge dredge with an excavator arm is a specialized piece of industrial equipment; its current market value depends on its condition, the gold price environment, and demand in the Nome offshore mining sector, none of which are publicly documented for the current date.

Gold Grabber LLC is the legal entity through which Schimschat conducted at least the 2014 Mexus Gold transaction. LLC filings in Alaska are public records but do not disclose asset values or revenue; they confirm existence and registered agent information only. No other business entities associated with Schimschat have surfaced in public records searches.

The 1.2 million restricted shares he received from Mexus Gold US in 2014 are worth examining. Mexus Gold US (ticker: MXSG) was a small-cap OTC-traded mining company at the time. Restricted shares in micro-cap OTC mining stocks carry high illiquidity risk and often decline significantly in value or become worthless over time. Without documentation of when (or whether) those shares were sold and at what price, this holding cannot be reliably added to any net worth estimate.

Net worth estimates: what the numbers look like and when they date from

As of May 2026, no major third-party net worth platform, including CelebrityNetWorth, NetWorthSpot, or Forbes, has a publicly indexed, date-stamped page for Hank Schimschat. For more on Hank Schimschat net worth numbers and why third-party figures are inconsistent, see king schratz net worth net worth estimates. That absence is notable: it typically means either that the individual is not prominent enough for the automated aggregators to have profiled them, or that any pages that existed have been removed or are not indexed.

Working from the documented assets and income sources available, here is a transparent, component-by-component estimate as of mid-2026:

Pulling those components together, a plausible net worth range for Hank Schimschat is roughly $200,000 to $700,000, anchored primarily by the physical asset value of the AU Grabber. The wide range reflects genuine uncertainty about the dredge's current condition and market value, and about whether the Mexus Gold shares produced any meaningful return. This is an estimate built from documented facts, not a confirmed figure. If you are specifically looking for Hank Schimschat net worth, this article’s mid-2026 range is the most defensible estimate available from public data.

How this kind of estimate gets built

Estimating the net worth of a private individual like Schimschat, who has no public company equity, no disclosed salary, and no large real estate portfolio in searchable property records, relies almost entirely on asset-based valuation. The approach works like this: identify the largest discrete assets (in his case, the dredge and the LLC), assign a current market value to each using replacement cost, comparable sales, or industry benchmarks, then subtract any known liabilities. If liabilities are unknown, which is almost always the case for private individuals, the estimate is of gross assets, not net worth in the strict accounting sense.

What this estimate does not include, because no data exists: personal real estate holdings in Alaska (Nome property records are public but were not surfaced in research), savings or investment accounts, vehicle or equipment assets beyond the AU Grabber, any debt or liens on the dredge, or any income from the 2014 Mexus deal. Each of those missing pieces could move the number meaningfully in either direction.

The television income component is included as a minor line item because it is a documented income source, but it is not the driver here. Compare this to profiles of similarly situated Bering Sea Gold cast members: the show's more prominent figures, like those who operate multiple vessels or have diversified businesses, tend to have estimates in the mid-to-high six figures for the same reason, physical assets and mining equity, not TV fees.

Why figures differ and what the data gaps really mean

The most reliable data point in this profile is the $600,000 acquisition cost for the AU Grabber, sourced to Wikipedia's article on the dredge. That figure has not been independently verified against a purchase contract or manufacturer's invoice in the sources reviewed, so it should be treated as a reported figure rather than an audited one. KNOM's 2014 journalism is the best independent source confirming his ownership, identity, and operational activity in Nome. The Mexus Gold GlobeNewswire release is the only SEC-adjacent public document (Mexus Gold was publicly traded), giving the 1.2 million restricted share detail legal-filing credibility, though Mexus Gold itself was a micro-cap OTC company with limited regulatory scrutiny.

Bering Sea Paydirt's 2022 interview piece is relevant for timeline purposes because it addresses what happened to Schimschat after he left the show, which is important context for whether he is still generating mining income. However, without access to the full article, the specific claims it makes cannot be independently confirmed here.

Common reasons net worth figures differ across sources for someone like Schimschat include: using the $600,000 dredge cost as a straight net worth proxy (which ignores depreciation and debt), conflating annual gold output estimates with accumulated wealth, or simply copying figures from other sites without methodology. Any site claiming a precise dollar figure for Schimschat without citing a specific source should be treated with significant skepticism.

How to verify or update this estimate yourself

If you want to do your own due diligence on Hank Schimschat's financial standing, here are the most productive avenues to pursue, in order of likely usefulness: This includes evaluating what people mean when they search for Hank Schrader net worth versus the real-life miner's estimated wealth Hank Schimschat's financial standing.

1. Alaska Division of Corporations, Business & Professional Licensing: Search for 'Gold Grabber LLC' at the Alaska Department of Commerce website. This will confirm whether the LLC is still active, who the registered agent is, and the filing history. It will not show revenue or assets, but it confirms entity status.
2. Alaska Department of Natural Resources (DNR) permit database: Mining permits in Alaska are public records. A search for Schimschat or Gold Grabber LLC in the DNR mining permit system will show current or lapsed permit activity, which tells you whether active mining operations are ongoing.
3. Nome property records: The City of Nome and the Borough of Nome Kenai Peninsula maintain property assessment records. A name search can surface real estate holdings and their assessed values, which would be a significant addition to any net worth estimate.
4. SEC EDGAR (for Mexus Gold): Search EDGAR for Mexus Gold US (MXSG) 8-K and S-1 filings from 2014 onward. The July 2014 GlobeNewswire announcement should correspond to an 8-K filing that includes details of the Gold Grabber LLC contract, share issuance terms, and any lock-up provisions. This is the highest-quality source for the share deal specifics.
5. OTC Markets (for Mexus Gold share value): Check the historical price chart for MXSG on OTC Markets or a financial data provider like Macroaxis. Determine what 1.2 million shares were worth at issuance in July 2014 and what they traded at in subsequent months. This will give you a realistic sense of whether that share grant was ever worth anything meaningful.
6. Bering Sea Paydirt and local Alaska journalism: The September 2022 Bering Sea Paydirt interview is the most recent documented source on Schimschat's status. Reading that article in full would provide the most current qualitative picture of his activities and any assets or ventures mentioned.
7. LinkedIn and professional profiles: His LinkedIn profile (Nome, Alaska, 'Au Grabber') is publicly visible. Checking for role updates or new ventures there can signal whether his business activities have changed since 2019.

One thing to keep in mind: private individuals in remote resource-extraction industries like Nome offshore mining are among the hardest subjects to build accurate net worth profiles for. The combination of seasonal income variability, physical asset depreciation, and limited public disclosure means any estimate, including the one in this article, has a wide error band. The goal here is to give you the most defensible number built from real sources, not to manufacture precision that does not exist in the data.