Mr Malcolm Macpherson, Chairman of Governing Board

Malcolm was appointed as inaugural Chairman in 2003.

He has played a major role in the global titanium minerals industry and the Australian mining sector for the past two decades. In the past Malcolm has worked in technical support for mineral exploration projects in Australia, the Sudan, the Philippines and Liberia. He is the former Managing Director of Westralian Sands Limited, later Iluka Resources Limited and former Chairman of the Western Power Corporation Board.

Mr Macpherson is a Director of Anaconda Nickel Limited, Chairman of the Independent Living Centre of Western Australia (Inc) and a Member of the Senate of Murdoch University.

Directors

Mrs Karen Field

Ms Karen Field is an Economics graduate with extensive experience in the mining industry over three decades. Karen initially specialised in human resources and project management with an emphasis on achieving structural and cultural change consistent with business imperatives.

Karen has worked across a variety of industry sectors, including executive roles with Robe River Iron Associates, Normandy Mining and MIM Holdings Limited and, in 1998, was appointed as President of Minera Alumbrera, the US$1.2billion Copper/Gold Joint Venture project in Argentina. Since returning to Australia in 2001, Karen has consulted to the minerals and related industries as well as assuming a number of directorships.

Dr Bart Follink

Dr Bart Follink is the newly appointed Chief of CSIRO Minerals. He has a strong fundamental and applied science background and experience in senior research and general management roles, both in industry and the public sector. Dr Follink comes to CSIRO from Royal Philips Electronics, most recently as General Development Manager of Mobile Display Systems, and earlier as Head of the Physical Chemistry Department and Senior Research Scientist with the Research unit. His research with Philips ranged from electrochemistry and rechargeable battery management to electrowetting and quantum effect physics. He has a keen understanding of the importance of translating lab research into industry technology.

Dr Follink was Surface Technology Group Manager while on secondment to Singapore's Gintic Institute, and researched various mineral processing R&D topics during his Research Fellowship with the Ian Wark Research Institute at the University of South Australia. Educated at the University of Wageningen in the Netherlands where he completed an MSc and a PhD in Physical and Colloid chemistry, Dr Follink has worked in The Netherlands, Australia, Singapore and Japan. He has published around 40 research papers on diverse topics such as colloid, interface and electrochemistry, and has several patents, technical reports and invited conference papers to his credit.

Professor Don McKee

Prof Don McKee is a metallurgical engineer. His initial career was spent with Mount Isa Mines, Climax Molybdenum in Colorado and Woodlawn Mines working in the areas of process control and metallurgical development projects. He joined the Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre in 1981 and was Director of the Centre from 1989-1996. He is currently Director of the Sustainable Minerals Institute within the University of Queensland.

He has extensive experience with Cooperative Research Centres, having been involved with the establishment of the Centre for Mining Technology and Equipment (now CRC Mining) and a Board Member of that CRC for over 10 years. He is on the Board of the CRC for Coal in Sustainable Development and JKTech Pty Ltd, the commercialization company of the JKMRC.

Mr Dave Olney

Mr Dave Olney completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Mineral Science, at Murdoch University WA in 1977, and joined Alcoa in 1978 as a Graduate Process Engineer at the Pinjarra Refinery.

During his time with Alcoa, Mr Olney has held Line management positions in manufacturing / Alumina refining in the Western Australian operations including location manager at Wagerup and Pinjarra refineries, and Assistant Director for WA Operations. He has recently completed 2 yrs overseas based in Pittsburgh USA as VP Operations for the Atlantic system of bauxite mines and alumina refineries. He now heads up Alcoa’s global refining technology portfolio as VP Technology and Business Systems, and is now based in Perth WA .

Dr Ray Shaw

Dr Ray Shaw is General Manager-Technology Support within Rio Tinto Technology. After completing a PhD on nickel smelting thermodynamics at Melbourne University, he spent two years at Imperial College, before joining BHAS at Port Pirie in 1978. He led the development and commercialisation of the BHAS Hydrometallurgical Copper Matte Process and was heavily involved in research on lead and zinc production. He transferred to Comalco in 1984 where he led major R&D work in most areas of alumina/aluminium production. He joined Rio Tinto in 1997 where he is accountable for technology input to a range of new developments and for Rio Tinto's effective utilisation of external research providers.

Ms Erica Smyth

Erica Smyth has a BSc (Hons) from UWA and an MSc (Applied) from McGill University. She is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters from UWA in 2008.

Erica started work as an exploration geologist with BHP Minerals then moved into project management, government approvals and community consultation. This led to similar roles the oil and gas industry in WA with BHP Petroleum and Woodside Petroleum Ltd. She was the General Manager External Affairs for Woodside from 1999 to 2004 before she left to further develop her career as a non-executive director.

Erica is currently the Chairman of ScreenWest, the Diabetes Research Foundation and the UWA Centenary Trust for Women and is Chairman-elect of Scitech. She is also an independent director of Toro Energy Ltd, the SwanCare Group and Diabetes Australia. She is also the project manager of “Red Dust in Her Veins – Women of the Pilbara”, a book which was published in November 2007 and supports the Royal Flying Doctor Service. She is a judge for the WA State Government’s Golden Geko Awards.