For Chris Pedersen, a geologist with Cheetah Resources, coming to work at the Nechalacho Rare earth metals mine felt like returning home.
Pedersen was part of the initial crew that made the deposit discovery in the 1980s.
Without a market, the mine laid dormant.
That was until Avalon purchased the project in 2005 and began developing and exploring the area.
Cheetah Resources bought the top level resources in 2019, with mining operations starting in 2021.
Pedersen has had a career that took him from Greenland to Brazil, but he always wanted to return to the North.
Now the project is off the ground, Pedersen says he is proud to be back working in the NWT.