Women Leading The Way In Bowen Basin Mining

The Bowen Basin mining region has seen remarkable progress in promoting gender diversity and empowering women within the industry. Traditionally dominated by men, the mining sector is undergoing a significant shift, with women stepping into leadership roles, operational positions and technical careers. 

An industry-leading approach to diversity and inclusion has resulted in national recognition for Anglo American at the prestigious 2024 Women in Resources National Awards in Canberra.

The Inclusion and Diversity Champion in Resources national award went to Workplace Support Manager Kanae Dyas who has pioneered a program dedicated to supporting our women while committing to zero tolerance of bullying, sexual harassment or discrimination.

“Kanae has won this award for her exceptional commitment to fostering inclusion, diversity, and equity within the resources sector,” Minerals Council of Australia said.

“Kanae’s leadership in developing impactful programs has set a new standard for cultural and gender safety in the industry.”

Anglo American took out both awards at the 2024 QRC/WIMARQ Resources Awards for Women in Queensland on International Women’s Day in March. These wins qualified them for the national awards.

Ms Dyas said the resources industry had made significant progress because it had the maturity to see the value in diversity and inclusion.

“We need safe, inclusive, and equitable spaces for women to thrive; career development and progression opportunities; increased leadership and executive roles for women to inform, drive and sustain change; and to close the gender pay gap,” she said.

Head of People, Capability and Organisation Ben Mansour, also at the Canberra event, said this recognition came off the back of a concerted effort to increase the number of females in leadership positions across the company’s steelmaking coal operations.

He said diverse teams were more productive, innovative and creative.

“We set ourselves a task to create an innovative, inclusive and diverse people strategy that helped us create an equitable organisation for every employee,” he said.

“We created an environment where employees could easily connect with accessible mentors to propel their career goals. This has not only benefitted our female workforce but also a diverse range of employees from differing backgrounds.

“We designed a forward-thinking strategy to bring women into non-traditional technical and
operational roles by building talent pipelines from graduate, apprenticeship and trainee programs.

“This has allowed the organisation to achieve an elevation of merit-based appointment of women into leadership roles, ensuring informed decision-making and equal representation at every stage.

“It’s just the start, but we are committed to driving a values-based culture where talent knows no gender and where every individual is given the opportunity to thrive.”

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Anglo American Workplace Support Manager Kanae Dyas won the Inclusion and Diversity Champion in Resources award at the 2024 Women in Resources National Awards in Canberra. She is pictured with Simon Trott from Rio Tinto, which sponsored the award.

Pictured are Head of People, Capability and Organisation Ben Mansour (right)
with team members Sandra Thomson and Brendan Storer. Photos supplied

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