Women in Mining. What would we do without them? – by Dick DeStefano (Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal – December 1, 2013)

Dick DeStefano is the Executive Director of Sudbury Area Mining Supply and Service Association (SAMSSA). destefan@isys.ca  This column was originally published in the December 2013 issue of Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal.

Modern Mining & Technology Sudbury (MMTS) is one of the best organizations in Canada for promoting and creating awareness of mining and the technology advances in the industry.

The organization is responsible for number of mining games and activities geared to elementary and high school students and teachers during April and May each year, events that attract thousands of students from the Sudbury district to Dynamic Earth, the city’s geoscience centre. These innovative and interactive opportunities expose students to the importance of new technologies required for the future of mining. MMTS 2013 week-long events attracted over 1,000 attendees.

MMTS 2014 will be special because the organization has commitments from a number of professional women with mining industry experience.

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Beastie Boys vs. GoldieBlox: Viral Video Sparks Legal Battle Over Copyright Infringement [Women in Mining] – by Sara Gates (The Huffington Post – November 24, 2013)

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/

Millions of viewers around the world may love the GoldieBlox commercial that soared to Internet fame last week, but apparently the Beastie Boys aren’t happy with one aspect of the girl-empowerment music video.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the hip-hop band has accused the toy company of copyright infringement for the unauthorized use of their 1987 hit “Girls”. They are reportedly arguing that GoldieBlox’s adaption of the song does not qualify as fair use, and claiming that the inclusion of “Girls” in the video is a “big problem” that has a “very significant impact.”

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My Take on Snow Lake – by Marc Jackson (Thompson Citizen – October 25, 2013)

The Thompson Citizen, which was established in June 1960, covers the City of Thompson and Nickel Belt Region of Northern Manitoba. The city has a population of about 13,500 residents while the regional population is more than 40,000. 

MARC JACKSON – EDITOR@UNDERGROUNDPRESS.CA

Mihychuk secures Kate Rice’s induction in Canadian Mining Hall of Fame

Kathleen “Kate” Rice; her name and exploits have long been a part of local lore, however, thanks to MaryAnn Mihychuk, many others throughout Canada will soon become familiar with her inspiring story. After hundreds of hours of research, performed with the help of dozens of analysts over a two-year, Mihychuk has accomplished a goal she set for herself upon taking the position of Community Development Officer (CDO) with the Town of Snow Lake. She has secured induction into the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame for the “Lady of the Lake.”

Kathleen Creighton Starr Rice will be inducted with full flourish and formality into the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame at a dinner and ceremony which will take place at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto on Jan. 16.

Rice was born in 1883 at St. Marys, Ontario. Schooled there, she graduated from the University of Toronto in 1906, with a bachelor of mathematics degree.

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Canadian mining industry needs more women, aboriginals, immigrants, says Iron Ore exec – by Tonda MacCharles (Toronto Star – November 18, 2013)

The Toronto Star has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

Zoë Yujnovich has a challenge for the Canadian mining industry: diversify.

OTTAWA—Zoë Yujnovich has a challenge for the Canadian mining industry: diversify. Not holdings, projects or commodities, but ranks, as in workers, supervisors, company directors.

Hire more women, more aboriginals and more immigrant workers to improve the bottom line. It’s a challenge the 38-year-old mother of three children makes not as an outsider. As head of Montreal-based Iron Ore Canada — the job former prime minister Brian Mulroney once held — and chair of the Canadian Mining Association, her message comes right from the top.

In a speech she’ll deliver to an influential audience of policy-makers and mining executives Tuesday in Ottawa on the mining industry’s lobby day, Yujnovich intends to press for certain government assistance to bottom-line profitability: tax incentives to boost private-sector infrastructure in the North; more consistent application of the 12-month timelines promised for environmental reviews of new mining projects; and an overall regulatory structure that helps the industry.

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Unearthing the Possibilities [Women and Mining] – by Ashley Milne-Tyte (Women of Influence – August 26, 2013)

https://www.womenofinfluence.ca/

(PLEASE NOTE DATE OF THIS POSTING!)

Considering that women weren’t even allowed underground at Canadian mines 40 years ago, the strides we’ve made into the industry — sometimes up to the C-suite — are to be celebrated.

When Barb Courte started working with her husband in the mining industry 18 years ago, his associates made clear this was no place for a woman — not the drill sites, not the office, not the mining conventions. This was a man’s world. Courte’s husband Garry ran a drilling company, and boring through the earth looking for minerals, because of the sheer physicality of the job, attracts tough, burly men — with attitudes to match.

Many didn’t want her around. “If I was talking to a man [at work], they’d spread the rumor I was having an affair,” she says. “I still to this day experience [problems] being a woman in this industry, but I’m such a smartass I turn it around with humour.” Several years ago she attended a mining convention and spotted a man who had been gossiping about her behind her back. She sat down next to him. “He turned his back on me. I said, ‘How many contracts do you have to bid on? He said ‘none.’ I said, ‘Well I’ve got 10, because I’m better looking.’ ”

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Where Are All the Women in Mining? – by Tara Wiseman (Hujffington Post – August 13, 2013)

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/

The other day, I was watching my friend’s one-year-old daughter as she crawled through the grass. She ripped up dandelions in her chubby fingers, and buried her hands into the warm dirt in the garden. Then, before anyone could stop her, she shoved two fistfuls of mud into her mouth. We all laughed uncontrollably.

Then my friend said, “I hope she never outgrows this.”

My friend wasn’t talking about her daughter’s love for eating dirt. Rather, she was talking about her daughter’s love of the outdoors, her sense of adventure, her desire to get dirty. Then she explained that she wants her daughter to grow up tinkering with machines, collecting rocks, and building things. Essentially, doing things that tend to be associated with boys, not girls.

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Mining a challenging career for Vale manager – Women in Mining: Samantha Espley – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – August 2013)

Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North.

At her first summer mining job, while an engineering student at the University of Toronto, Samantha Espley was one of four women—of 10 students—hired on at Falconbridge’s Keno Gold Mine in Val d’Or, Que. It wasn’t until later that it dawned on her how unique it was to work with that many other women.

“I didn’t really think much of it at the time until after I realized how few women there really were to choose from,” said Sudbury-based Espley, who was the only woman in her engineering class. “So it was quite a neat experience.”

After graduating, Stan Bharti, who would later bestow Laurentian University’s engineering school with a $10-million endowment, interviewed Espley for her position at Falconbridge, where she remained for a few years before hiring on at Inco (now Vale). Since then, she’s worked in research, been a general foreman underground, acted as superintendent of business systems, and served as manager of nickel services for mining operations. She’s currently the general manager for mines and technical services.

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Mining engineer an “oddity” in Canada – Women in Mining: Imola Götz – by Liz Cowan (Northern Ontario Business – August 2013)

Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North.

Imola Götz’s choice to study mining engineering wasn’t an unusual one while growing up in Romania. “There were many mines around my home town and I knew the possibilities and thought this was a very interesting career,” said the chief engineer at Goldcorp’s Porcupine Gold Mines in Timmins.

It was not unusual to find women working in the industry, with many filling technical positions. However, when she immigrated to Canada more than two decades ago, she was surprised there were not as many women working in the industry or pursuing engineering.

“When I got to Canada I was an oddity and I often got asked why I chose mining,” said Götz. She has been with Goldcorp for nearly 10 years and previously spent about 15 years in Manitouwadge. Her husband, Laszlo Götz, also works for Porcupine Gold Mines as its environmental manager. The couple decided to leave Romania early in their careers since the communist regime was “getting more and more intolerable.”

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Women coal miners to gather in Jonesborough this weekend Archives of Appalachia to document their stories – by Sue Guinn Legg (Johnson City Press – July 30, 2013)

http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/

Women coal miners from across the United States, Canada and England will gather in Jonesborough this weekend for a reunion at which their stories will be documented by the Archives of Appalachia at East Tennessee State University.

The first international gathering of women coal miners conducted in nearly 15 years, the Saturday and Sunday reunion will include guests from former underground miners’ organizations that pioneered gender integration in the coal industry in the 1970s as well as representatives from Women Against Pit Closures in England.

On Saturday, representatives of the Archives of Appalachia and ETSU’s Office of University Relations will film interviews of women miners to add to the archives’ existing coal mining collections, to strengthen the public understanding of the histories of mining and labor and to foster a greater appreciation for women miners.

Amy Collins, director of the Archives of Appalachia, said interest in the history of women coal miners draws researchers from across the country and abroad to archived collections at ETSU that document women miners’ efforts in the areas of mine health and safety, pregnancy research, parental leave and pay equity.

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Women in Mining: Judy Baker – Challenges in junior exploration faced by both genders – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – August 2013)

(L to R) Judy Bake, CEO Superior Copper Resources; Delio Tortosa, Geologist; Morgan Quinn, Geologist.

Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North.

http://www.superiorcopper.ca/

For Judy Baker, challenges in the junior exploration side of the mining industry aren’t necessarily linked to gender. It’s a formidable field that poses challenges for anyone who takes the work on. “The junior exploration and mining business is a tougher segment of the industry, because basically you’re taking the highest risk capital available to explore for mineral wealth, and the risk factor’s so high, it’s tough for anyone to be in, let alone women,” she said.

Baker, CEO at Superior Copper Resources, which is exploring at the former Coppercorp copper mine near Sault Ste. Marie, first developed an interest in the field while still in high school. Attending night courses in geology at Brock University, the theory of plate tectonics put forward by John Tuzo Wilson—the idea that the earth’s crust is comprised of a series of shifting plates—captured her interest and guided her into mining.

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Big Annie’s legacy honored [Great Keweenaw Copper Strike] – by Kurt Hauglie (Daily Mining Gazette – July 5, 2013)

http://www.mininggazette.com/

CALUMET – For Lyndon Comstock, the story of Anna “Big Annie” Klobuchar Clemenc hasn’t been told thoroughly enough, and because of that, he recently wrote a book called “Annie Clemenc and the Great Keweenaw Copper Strike.”

Because of her efforts on behalf of copper miners and their families before, during and after the 1913-14 copper strike, Comstock nominated Clemenc for induction into the Labor’s International Hall of Fame. The nomination was accepted, and at 7 p.m. July 26, Comstock will be part of the ceremony to honor her induction, which will take place at the Keweenaw National Historical Park Calumet Visitor Center. The ceremony is taking place in Calumet as part of the observance of the centennial of the strike, which started July 23, 1913.

Comstock said he became aware of Clemenc’s importance to the miners during the copper strike while doing research for his cousin, Joanne Thomas, who created an exhibit about her now on display at the Coppertown USA Mining Museum in Calumet Township.

Comstock said he and Thomas had Croation ancestors involved in the strike, so they both felt a connection to the period. Thomas, who lives in Bolinas, Calif., but grew up in Muskegon, said as a result of working with Thomas, he decided to write the book. “That really came out of doing that research,” he said. Thomas said Clemenc, who was born in 1888 in Calumet to Slovenian immigrant parents, was unique for her involvement with the strike.

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This accountant is mining her potential – by Virginia Galt (Globe and Mail – July 5, 2013)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

Ikram Al Mouaswas’s career as a chartered accountant has taken her – in hard hat and steel-toed boots – to remote mining projects in India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, the Northwest Territories, and Northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire region.

A manager in Deloitte Canada’s assurance and advisory group, Ms. Al Mouaswas specializes in commodity mining – diamonds, gold, nickel, copper. “I love the mining industry. It’s changing every day. There’s always a complex or interesting transaction going on.” It’s rewarding work with a demanding schedule.

Still, every fall, Ms. Al Mouaswas and her colleagues at Deloitte engage in some prospecting of their own – blanketing Canadian university campuses in search of the next generation of accounting professionals. “Recruiting season” starts in September, and wraps up by Thanksgiving. And the war for talent is fierce, Ms. Al Mouaswas says.

“The big [professional accounting] companies and some of the mid-sized ones, as well, heavily recruit. They go out there and have events, rent banquet halls and bring out as many of their representatives as they can to tell the students about their firms, about the advantages, about their own experiences.”

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Mining group head sees tough times now, but better prospects ahead – by Josh Kerr (Globe and Mail – July 2, 2013)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

TORONTO — Trying to get a read on the mining industry may be like peeking in a crystal ball at this point, but Zoë Yujnovich believes the long-term outlook is still a good one. “Right now it’s a little bit like reading tea leaves to try to figure out exactly what’s happening,” says the new chair of the Mining Association of Canada.

“Certainly in the longer term the industry is still poised to be very successful, and when we look at it in a Canadian context I think we’re going to continue to see the extractive industry being a major contributor to Canadian GDP,” she said.

Ms. Yujnovich’s comments come as she takes the helm of the 78-year-old association, building on an impressive résumé. The first woman to hold the post, she first made waves when put in charge of the Brazilian operations for British-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto Inc. at the age of 34.

Ms. Yujnovich, the chief executive officer of Iron Ore Co. of Canada, which is majority owned by Rio Tinto, will chair the association for two years. Pierre Gratton the current president and CEO of the mining association said he is excited to have her heading up the board and isn’t surprised that Ms. Yujnovich, who he describes as a natural leader, has risen so far so fast in an industry long dominated by men.

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Mining offers a rewarding career for women – by Lisa Blackham (Vancouver Sun – April 24, 2013)

http://www.vancouversun.com/index.html

The field involves more than 120 occupations for people with all backgrounds and interests

Lisa Blackham is Chair, Diversity Women: BC Mining HR TaskforceTo explore the diverse range of career opportunities and in-demand jobs available in mining, go to: www.acareerinminingbc.ca

If a female close to you — maybe a daughter, niece, or family friend — told you that she was pursuing an education that would ultimately lead her to work in the exploration, mining and aggregates industry, what would your first thought be?

If someone had said that to me 10 years ago, I would have pictured a miner wearing coveralls, a hard hat, steel-toed boots and belt, walking out of an underground tunnel at the end of a long shift covered in dirt, dust and sweat; or a prospector in the middle of the bush, ankle deep in water, hunched over a gold pan looking for an elusive fleck of gold. Both individuals would have been men. But the reality today and in my own experience in the industry, working with people as a human resources manager has markedly evolved into a whole lot more.

Let’s explore the “whole lot more.” Today the exploration and mining industry has one of the broadest range of interdisciplinary positions available, with over 120 occupations for people with all backgrounds and interests.

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Vale executive receives honour – by Star Staff (Sudbury Star – March 8, 2013)

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

A senior Vale executive in Sudbury has received the second annual Women in Mining Canada National Trailblazer Award. Samantha Espley, Vale’s general manager of mines and mill technical ser vices for its Ontario operations, was honoured during this week’s Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada conference in Toronto.

“I am humbled and honoured to receive this prestigious award from (Women in Mining) Canada,” Espley said in a release. “Mining has allowed me to have a challenging and rewarding career, and I think it’s incumbent on female professionals to promote mining as an attractive career choice to the next generation of young Canadian women.

“I look forward to seeing more women occupy senior management roles in our industry through the work of WIM and other industry partners.”

Espley graduated 25 years ago with an engineering degree. Since then, she has held a number of positions, including for the former Falconbridge Ltd. (now Xstrata) at its Quebec and Sudbury operations. She joined the former Inco (now Vale) in 1990, where she has held roles of increasing responsibility.

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