Dr Alasdair James Macdonald is a geoscientist. During the past 28 months he has operated a New Zealand-based consultancy business which for the previous five years was Brisbane-based, providing professional geoscientific services to exploration and mining companies mainly in Australia, Asia and Southern Africa. He was chief geologist for AGIP Resources which was focused on exploration in Canada and Europe in the late 1980s. Dr Macdonald managed Andean gold exploration for Homestake Mining Company from 1994 to 1998. In 1998, Dr Macdonald joined Billiton International Metals as chief geoscientist, based in the Netherlands. Following the merger with BHP in 2001, he relocated to Brisbane in a similar capacity as global geoscience leader. In 2008, Dr Macdonald became a non-executive chair of International Base Metals (unlisted). He was a director of London-based Mantle Diamonds from June 2006 to November 2009. Dr Macdonald is a Member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia, a Fellow of the Society of Economic Geologists, and a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.