Born in Montreal, Alexander John Davidson graduated from McGill University in 1976 with a M.Sc. degree in Economic Geology. Soon after he led an exploration program for SMDC and drilled the discovery hole at the McArthur River uranium deposit in Saskatchewan. In 1980 he joined Falconbridge Copper in Ontario, where he contributed to the discovery of the high-grade Winston Lake zinc deposit in Ontario and the Samatosum silver deposit in B.C. 

He joined Barrick Gold in 1993 and became part of a top-tier team led by Peter Munk and Robert Smith. His vision and team leadership skills helped Barrick meet the challenge of expanding total resources while continually replacing mined ounces on an annual basis. As executive vice president of exploration and corporate development, he helped expand Barrick’s gold resources through a series of world-class discoveries and strategic mergers and acquisitions. 

His achievements helped elevate the stature of Canadian mining at home and overseas and earned him industry honours including the PDAC’s Prospector of the Year Award (2003), the CIM’s A.O. Dufresne Award (2005), the SME’s Charles F. Rand Gold Medal (2019) and induction into the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame in 2023.