“The 100 women featured in this edition were selected due to their inspiring contribution towards a stronger, safer and more sustainable mining industry,” the NGO said in a media statement. “This includes making positive and impactful changes, advocacy and a desire to empower others, perseverance in the face of adversity, and an ability to find solutions to challenges.”
According to WIM-UK, in this year’s nominations, there was an increase in women working in the fields of ESG and sustainability. Many of these women said that one of their main goals is to push for modernizing the mining industry.
“Stereotypes about women in mining can be stubborn but this book shows the breadth of roles and careers women are occupying and the diverse ways in which they enter the industry,” Alex Buck, managing director of WIM, said in the brief. “Through these amazing stories, we hope to inspire more women to seek a career in mining, celebrate the contributions women are already making and demonstrate to companies, large and small, the value of diversity to the long-term success of their business for every stakeholder.”
Among the women highlighted in the document are Loreto Acevedo, co-founder or InDiMin in Chile, a mining tech start-up whose Smart Mining Coach gives real-time feedback about processes; Florence Adu, who chairs Newmont Ghana’s Women and Allies (W&A) Network, part of the mining giant’s global inclusion and diversity strategy; Sumathi Angusamy, the global head of environment, health and sustainability at Vedanta, focusing on energy management and environmental compliance; and Laura Tyler, chief technical officer at BHP, who focuses on securing options in future-facing commodities through exploration and drives improvements on productivity, safety, and sustainability.
Besides women in mining companies, the WIM100 includes people that work at hydroelectric plants, commodity departments in banks, government departments, consultancy firms, star-ups, academia and NGOs.