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OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUNG
PROFFESSIONAL WOMEN IN
THE MINING INDUSTRY
By Jacinta Nyala
Trends and Opportunities In Mining
27/6/2020
INTRODUCTION
• Women are often perceived as being ‘weak’ to handle the pressure and technicality of the mining industry.
However, provided with opportunities for capacity building women are able to work equally and deliver in their positions.
• Involvement of women in the industry not only promotes diversity, but can also improve economic performance and lead to better decision-making processes.
1. Technical Training Programs
• For an easy transition (education to employment), technical training through structured internship programs and competency programs for entry level engineers is one of the major opportunities for young professionals.
• They link industry needs with academia providing hands on training in the industry to complement the learning.
They include:
Apprentice Programme
Graduate Program
Attachment Programme
Fig. Training programs for students and graduates
2. Soft Skills (Software proficiency)
• Most graduates and young professionals are academically qualified but lack soft skills eg. Critical thinking, communication, leadership, negotiation.
• Some employers are bias on having women in their teams based on ‘masculinity’ requirement of the job.
• There is a wide range of software in the market depending on the requirement; from exploration, optimization and mine development.
GIS AND MINE
SURVEY
EXPLORATION AND
MINE GEOLOGY
OPTIMIZATION AND
MINING
DATA
MANAGEMENT
Global Mapper LogChief Surpac Datashed
QGIS Surpac MineSched MS – Office
LIMS ArcGIS Micromine Whittle 3D
Minesight 3D Geographic
Calculator
Vulcan
Google Earth Leapfrog Geo
RPA ( Mission
Planner, Pix4D)
Geomodeller
FracSIS
Datamine
Fig. Global Mapper free tutorial covering fundamental concepts in the field of GIS.
Fig. Geovia tutorials contain conceptual information, as well as worked examples with a specific
data set, provided within the software.
Table. Examples of commonly used software.
3. Free Courses, MOOCs and Open-source Software
• A MOOC refers to a Massive Open Online Course. MOOCs allow students to study whenever they have time, at their own pace.
• An open source application by definition is software that you can freely access.
Fig. ESRI MOOCs provide free access to the latest Esri software for the duration of the course and
provide certificates to students who complete the course material
Fig. GIS Open-Source Software
Fig. The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) made (May-June 2020) the GIA Essentials online
courses in diamonds, colored stones and jewelry available at no cost for first-time enrollments.
3. Innovation and Investment • The future of mining, particularly artisanal and small scale mining, lies in
innovation.
• It is through investment in these ideas that Kenya will increase uptake of mining, oil and gas professions to mitigate unemployment.
• Students and young professionals should also research on industrial challenges during internships to spur innovation.
Eng. Audrey Mulama, Mining4i Award Winner for her innovation in Gold Mining
and Extraction using Geo Microbiology.
Miriam Wairimu Kamau, Founder and Director of Mimo Gem Traders. She is a
respected woman miner and gem dealer in the region and internationally.
4. Academia and Research
• Research support for undergraduate final year and Masters students.
• Create linkages between academia and industry to enable a smooth transition.
Base Titanium, high school program.
CHALLENGES 1. Transitioning into the industry.
2. Lack of mentorship; most of the senior engineers are men.
3. Gender bias by the employer; some managers openly prefer hiring men and bypass equally or more qualified women engineers.
4. Cultural beliefs and traditional gender roles; especially in artisanal and small scale mining where women generally work as service providers in roles like cooking and cleaning.
5. Unfavorable policies and laws on mining; whereby women investors are denied exploration and mining licenses/leases. Eg. the South African Minerals Act of 1991 legally prohibited women from working underground.
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Create linkages between academia and industry
2. Marketability (Skills)
3. Volunteering
4. Networking (Webinars, Conferences, Social media)
5. Mentorship
6. Think outside the box