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Women in Mining

Women blast through gender barriers in Colombia’s emerald mines, but struggle to emerge from poverty – by Astrid Suarez (Associated Press – March 14, 2024)

https://apnews.com/

COSCUEZ, Colombia (AP) — Deep inside mountain tunnels where the heat is so intense it causes headaches, women with power tools are chipping away at boulders in search of gems. They have opened a difficult path for themselves in Colombia’s emerald industry, a sector long dominated by men.

The lack of job opportunities, combined with the hope of a find that will make them rich, has pushed the women into mining. Colombian emeralds are known around the world for their quality and the best can be sold for thousands of dollars, though most people in the industry aren’t wealthy.

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Heart of gold: the legend of Nellie Cashman – by A.J. Roan (North of 60 Mining News – March 1, 2024)

https://www.miningnewsnorth.com/

Undertake an adventure through the riveting tale of Ellen “Nellie” Cashman, perhaps one of the most inspiring women of the 18th century.

Perhaps no other individual could be regarded as true an American pioneer as Irish immigrant Ellen “Nellie” Cashman. Easily regarded as a quintessential gold mining stampeder with her acumen in business and the nose to sniff out opportunity, she traveled the width and breadth of America, leaving success and hope in her wake.

Known as the Angel of the Mining Camps, this is the story of a woman whose family name may have once been O’Kissane, but through her exploits, lived up to the name Cashman.

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Northern women lauded for mining industry contributions – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – February 29, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Women in Mining Canada announces 2024 Trailblazer Award winners

Three Northern Ontario women have been recognized by Women in Mining Canada for their contributions to the mining industry. The organization’s Trailblazer Awards recognize women who “embody the trailblazing spirit, which refers to the leadership mindset needed to make extraordinary personal strides to navigate the Canadian mining industry.”

Amy Lefebvre of Timmins, Raiyana Umar of Sudbury, and Rachel Cranford of North Bay are all being recognized. Joining them are D. Jean Hutchinson of Kingston and Marge Fraser of the Tahltan Nation in British Columbia.

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A Tahltan champion: For Freda Campbell, building strong community relations with Indigenous people drives better projects – by Alice Martin (CIM Magazine – November 27, 2023)

https://magazine.cim.org/en/

Freda Campbell, who is a proud member of the Tahltan Nation, never expected that working in the mining industry would allow her to connect with her home on an even deeper level. Her first contact with the mining world was a happy coincidence.

In 1992, when Campbell was in the last semester of her associate degree in business administration at Camosun College in Victoria, B.C., she met Jack Thompson, the president of Homestake Mining Company, who visited one of her classes to talk about job opportunities in mining.

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Ukraine’s coal mines turn to women to solve wartime staff shortages – by Max Hunder (Reuters – November 22, 2023)

https://www.reuters.com/

PAVLOHRAD, Ukraine, Nov 22 (Reuters) – After more than a thousand of its workers went to fight Russia’s invasion, a coal mining enterprise in eastern Ukraine suffered a huge staff shortage. Its answer was to allow women to work underground for the first time in its history.

Over a hundred took up the offer. “I took this job because the war started and there were no other jobs,” 22-year-old Krystyna said candidly. For five months, she has worked as a technician 470 metres below ground, servicing the small electric trains which haul workers more than four kilometres from the lift shaft where they descend to the seams of coal.

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Massive potash mine being built in Saskatchewan breaks new ground for women – by Amanda Stephenson (Canadian Press/Toronto Star – November 19, 2023)

https://www.thestar.com/

BHP’s Sask. mine breaking new ground for women

In July of this year, mining giant BHP announced a company first. More than 14,000 kilometres away from its Melbourne, Australia headquarters, BHP said it had achieved its “gender balance” target for its local workforce in Saskatchewan.

With women making up more than 43 per cent of the company’s workforce at its Jansen potash mine project as well as its Saskatoon corporate office, the province became the first BHP location in the world to reach a goal set back in 2016.

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New kids book aims to get girls into mining – by Alisha Hiyate (Northern Miner – November 1, 2023)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Move over Dora the Explorer — another Latina heroine and adventurer is here and she’s ready to teach kids about mining. Like Dora, Ana likes adventures and problem solving. But she – and the other characters in Ana Gabriela Juárez’s new book “Ana’s Adventures at the Mine: The Secret of La Esperanza” – are based on real people.

Ana is modelled on the author, president of CTA Environmental Consultants and founder of WIM Central America, while her grandmother in the book is Canadian Mining Hall of Fame member and geologist, Maureen Jensen.

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Fortescue CEO Fiona Hick’s sudden departure raises eyebrows – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – August 28, 2023)

https://www.mining.com/

Fortescue Metals Group (ASX: FMG) announced on Monday the unexpected departure of its chief executive officer Fiona Hick, who held the post for less than six months and who attended a corporate party on Saturday to mark the iron ore miner’s 20-year anniversary.

Hick, who was scooped up in November last year from oil and gas producer Woodside Energy (ASX: WDS), has been replaced by current chief operating officer for the iron ore division, Dino Otranto. The 49-year-old female executive made her name by pushing the Western Australia’s resource sector to address its sexual harassment and bullying issues while serving as president of the state’s Chamber of Minerals and Energy.

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Mining association launches regulations to diversify mostly ‘male and white’ industry – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – June 22, 2023)

https://financialpost.com/

Protocol hopes to attract more women, newcomers and minorities

Canada’s largest mining association has announced new regulations that its members must follow to tackle issues such as sexual harassment, bullying and gender discrimination at a time when the industry is finding it difficult to attract workers.

Through its equity, diversity and inclusion protocol, the Mining Association of Canada, whose nearly 60 members including Barrick Gold Corp. and Teck Resources Ltd., hopes to attract more women, newcomers and minorities in a sector that’s “male dominated” and “homogeneously white,” the association said.

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‘Dramatic’ shift needed to attract more women to mining: panel – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – June 9, 2023)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Sector is changing, but more efforts required to create a truly inclusive industry, battery-electric conference hears

For years now, the mining industry has been calling for change in the way it recruits its workforce, with an emphasis on bringing more women into the fold.

But any changes that have taken place are marginal at best, according to Nour Hachem-Fawaz, president and founder of Build a Dream, an organization that helps connect young girls and women to the skilled trades, STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) careers, and entrepreneurship.

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Building a foundation for change among women in mining – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – May 23, 2023)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Women in Mining UK panel talks challenges, opportunities in global mining industry

When it was founded in 1997, the Aboriginal Women in Mining program had a simple goal: provide Indigenous women in northeastern Ontario with pre-employment training to help them enter the mining sector.

At the time, Indigenous hiring policies and quotas were uncommon, explained Kathy Lajeunesse, and many Indigenous women were being shut out of the work opportunities that were cropping up at mine projects in and around the North.

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Stacy Kennedy first woman appointed as permanent head of Vale Manitoba Operations – by Ian Graham (Thompson Citizen – February 22, 2023)

https://www.thompsoncitizen.net/

Vale’s Manitoba Operations will be permanently overseen by a woman for the first time come March 1, when Stacy Kennedy takes over the top job in Thompson.

Kennedy, who has previously served as interim general manager of Manitoba Operations and interim mine manager, inherits the role from Gary Annett, who is returning to his home of Sudbury, Ontario, where he will continue to work for the company, said a Feb. 22 Vale Canada press release. “I’m really excited to be taking on this role at a time when there’s a real shift happening in the mining industry,” said Kennedy in a press release.

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In the search for the lithium that will power our future, these three women see a bigger lesson – by Dennis Wagner (Techxplore.com – October 10, 2022)

https://techxplore.com/

Three women trek into the barren Nevada desert, boots crunching down a wash until one of them stops at an overhang, pulls out a geology pick, and chips away a chunk of rock. Over the next few minutes, and during hours of interviews, they explain the relationship between this stone and the battery that powers your electric car.

They talk about prehistoric volcanoes, subterranean brine lakes, advanced technology and the mineral that is changing the future of our planet. Lithium. This curiosity of the periodic table is an element so sensitive it can’t be found alone in nature. The pure white metal, when exposed to air, promptly oxidizes and turns black.

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‘We have to do better’: Why Canada’s main mining lobby wants its members to get serious about workplace culture – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – August 17, 2022)

https://financialpost.com/

Failure to do so could exacerbate a chronic shortage of skilled labour, says the Mining Association of Canada

Canada’s biggest mining association wants its members to try harder to diversify their workforces and to tackle issues related to workforce trauma, warning that failure to do so could exacerbate a chronic shortage of skilled labour.

The Mining Association of Canada (MAC), whose nearly 60 members including Barrick Gold Corp. and Teck Resources Ltd., is receiving comments on a draft equity, diversity and inclusion protocol, which it posted last week for review. The association aims to get sign-off from its board of directors in March 2023.

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What is Australia doing about sexual harassment in mining camps? – by Praveen Menon (Reuters – June 21, 2022)

https://www.reuters.com/

SYDNEY, June 21 (Reuters) – Australia will release on Thursday a state government report on sexual harassment in the country’s mineral-rich west after more than a year of investigations, as the sector tries to fix a culture of sexism and bullying.

Women have long complained of sexual harassment in “fly in, fly out” (FIFO) mining camps. Major miners including BHP Group (BHP.AX), Rio Tinto (RIO.AX) and Fortescue (FMG.AX) have made submissions to the inquiry, which is expected to recommend steps to address the issue.

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