GeoQwest Excursions began in 2000 when company owner Steve Noakes left the corporate world of Vancouver for British Columbia's Okanagan Valley.

He had spent 24 years with Cominco Ltd (now Teck) at minesites and refineries as a student and as a full time employee in the Vancouver exploration office beginning in 1980. His tenure at Cominco included projects throughout western and northern Canada and international assignments while based in Antofagasta and Santiago Chile.

GeoQwest began in 2000 a wilderness touring company specilaizing in BC Mining Heritage tours into the historic mining districts of the province. With cooperation of property owners, tourism associations, the education division of the Mining Association of BC and teachers organizations, GeoQwest helped remove some the mystery of mining and exploration with direct contact for the public and educators to industry practices.

In 2006, Steve was contacted by a number of companies asking if he was available to run exploration projects. He re-entered the exploration industry and has been active since with project of crew supervision, prospecting, applied geochemistry and company administration.

With his time living and working in South America and more recently in Mexico, Steve is completely functional in Spanish and is comfortable dealing independently with Spanish speaking crews and local residents. His work in Mexico often involves weeks alone working among local residents in the Sierra Madres on reconnaissance prospecting projects.