The year was 1985. On a frozen plateau in the Lac de Gras area deep in the icy Canadian north, geologist Chuck Fipke found diamond indicator minerals. The hunt was on. His story and that of his prospecting partner, Stewart Blusson, led to the discovery of Canada's first diamond mine. EKATI.

Many scoffed at the idea that diamonds existed in this frozen, seemingly barren landscape. It took imagination, vision and dogged determination to continue the quest. The odds were long. The resources short.

The details involve vast territory, huge distances, brutal winters and one of the most sensitive ecological environments on the planet. In scientific terms it involved the challenge of discriminating between the hidden kimberlite pipes that bore diamonds and those that didn't. This was unknown territory in every sense of the word.