W. David (Dave) Sinclair has enjoyed a long and satisfying career studying mineral deposits in Canada. Following his education at the universities of Toronto (B.Sc.) and Wisconsin (M.Sc. and PhD), he spent four years investigating mineral deposits in the Yukon Territory for the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs. In 1977, he transferred to the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) where he focused his research on granite-related deposits of copper, molybdenum, tungsten, tin and various rare metals until his retirement in 2006. From 1997 to 2003, he coordinated the GSC's World Minerals Project, designed to produce digital databases of world geology and mineral deposits.

Since 1973, Sinclair has served CIM in various capacities, particularly in activities related to publications. He is a CIM Fellow, a former president of the Geological Society of CIM, and continues to serve as its publications chair, where he has been active in promoting the society's special volumes and its journal, Exploration and Mining Geology. He championed the society's production of Ground Work - Exploring for Minerals in Canada, an interactive CD that has been distributed to more than 6,000 schools across Canada.