SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - For an American, Jack Everett has lived a lot in Canada. "Most of my life, in fact, and mostly in the North" said Everett, an exploration geologist behind major finds in Labrador, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories.

Jack Everett, an American prospector, helped stake some of the most prominent gold claims in the NWT, Nunavut and Labrador. He flew with the likes of Chuck McAvoy and Willy Laserich. Everett visited Yellowknife last week and had the chance to tour the city after 50 years of absence and travel to Hope Bay. - Jack Danylchuk/NNSL photo

"I always wanted to go North for some reason, and I always wanted to go as far as possible. That's what happened. I finally went to the Northwest Passage and discovered a major gold belt."

The Duluth, Minnesota, native and his wife Dorothy passed through Yellowknife last week on a visit to Hope Bay, Nunavut, where Newmont Mining Corporation is developing the greenstone formation.

Everett's company was exploring when flying ace Chuck McAvoy disappeared June 9, 1964.

Everett was the last to see McAvoy and two young geologists, Douglas Torp and Albert Kunes the day they boarded McAvoy's single engine Fairchild 82 and flew into Northern aviation history.

It would be almost 40 years before a helicopter crew found the wreckage of their plane near the Arctic coast.

Everett has prospected for base metals, but since the 60s, gold has been his main interest; the fingers on both of his hands gleam with precious gems mounted in heavy gold settings.

"When Inco discovered what became Lupin Mine, we were involved in the staking rush that followed. I thought we might find some other areas for exploration toward the coast," Everett recalled.

"Near Bathurst Inlet we found a greenstone belt and gold in many places, but it was only $35 an ounce then, and we eventually dropped our claims. Now Newmont is planning to develop the area we staked. My dream is coming true."

Pilots like McAvoy and Willy Laserich played "vital parts in getting prospectors and our equipment into remote corners. Without them, it wouldn't have been possible," he said.

"It was nip and tuck a few times," he chuckled, recalling hair-raising adventures with McAvoy and Laserich. Seven of the 21 aircraft his company chartered crashed, and Everett survived three of them.

"When the prop stops going around, you learn to pray - fast."

After a weekend of visiting the ground he prospected and staked 50 years ago, Everett marvelled at the changes.

"It's almost unbelievable, every place I went, from Yellowknife to Cambridge Bay, Everett said.

"Development at Hope Bay is going to give a major boost to the economy of this whole region. There are tugs and barges headed there from east and west, and an ice road. When the road opens, and barge traffic is established, it will help make deposits up there economic."

Attitudes and practices have changed from the days when prospectors and mines abandoned the equipment and material that they flew in to remote sites, Everett acknowledged, but some of the new regulations are too rigid.

"Environmental restrictions that aren't reasonable are the greatest impediment to mining development," he said.

"There is an inclination to set standards that can't be reached, that aren't economic. We have to compromise. It's important to develop all our resources in an environmentally safe way. It can be done, but there is no way to eliminate accidents."

At 89, Everett has contemplated retirement, but only briefly. "I've worked from Alaska through the Western U.S., Central and South America, but there is always some new gold prospect, in Mexico or Tanzania."

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.