Nick Hibbart, 66, vanished from a remote prospecting camp in the Gravel River area north of Nipigon, Ontario, on June 7, 1988. He was last seen that day by police officers at his camp while working in rugged country where he had spent years prospecting. Hibbart was described as thin, with a ruddy complexion and grey hair, about 5 feet 7 inches and 141 pounds.

Weeks passed before officers returned to the site on July 25, 1988, and found the camp burned to the ground. The report does not say when or how the fire occurred or whether it was linked to Hibbart’s disappearance. Searches of the surrounding, often aircraft-accessible wilderness did not locate him or produce an explanation for what happened after he was last seen.

The case remains an open missing-person file with the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP reference RM05017177) and is listed in Canada’s national missing-person system (RCMP case 2006022699). Did anyone in the Nipigon prospecting community ever encounter Hibbart in the weeks before or after June 7, 1988?