- With diversity policies under the microscope, the mining industry’s approach to inclusion is facing scrutiny
- Female appointments at board and management level have slowed, an Acacia report shows
- Kristie Batten’s annual survey shows while progress is slowing, women are taking leading roles at a number of ASX miners and explorers
In a special report ahead of International Women’s Day, Kristie Batten takes stock of the mining industry’s progress on gender equality in the past year.
There’s been a recent renewed focus on gender diversity in business, but for all the wrong reasons.
The return of Donald Trump to the White House has so far been chaotic, and among the many executive orders signed by the new president was one targeting diversity, equity and inclusion programs in US government departments.
DEI covers not only women, but also people of colour, the LGBTIQ community and people with disabilities.
Major companies including McDonald’s, Amazon, Meta have walked back DEI programs, while large investors including State Street and Goldman Sachs have reportedly removed gender diversity requirements for companies they invest in.
There’s been a push in recent years from mining companies to increase gender diversity, given the industry has always been male dominated.
According to data from the federal government’s Workplace Gender Equality Agency, just 22% of the mining workforce is female.
Peak ESG?
The abandonment of DEI initiatives follows on from what feels like a gradual backdown from environmental, social and governance initiatives.
In August last year, Glencore CEO Gary Nagle was quoted as saying “the pendulum has swung on ESG over the last nine to 12 months”.
“[Investors] still do recognise that cash is king and that is always the case.”
In Deloitte’s recently released Tracking the Trends 2025 report, Deloitte Australia partner, strategy, risk & transactions Celia Hayes said the acronym ESG may have somewhat lost its way and needed reframing as drivers of financial risk and opportunities.
“Directors and executives would be neglecting their fiduciary duties if they did not stay on top of ESG risks and look for chances to create new value,” she said.
Speaking at a WA Mining Club luncheon last week, lawyer and De Grey Mining (ASX:DEG) director Emma Scotney said the ESG pendulum had swung too far and there had been a correction.
“ESG has its place, and I hope and look forward to the day that it’s just an inherent part of what we do as good business and profitability, and it’s not this discrete, complex, separate area where we focus our attention, but it’s integral into our everyday practice to be a sustainable industry for decades and centuries to come,” she said.
The stats
There are 37 mining companies in the ASX 200, down from 39 this time last year.
Those companies have a total of 283 directors, of which 98, or 34.6%, are women, slightly up from 33.8% this time last year.
For the first time since 2021, all ASX 200 miners have at least one female director.
There remains only one company with a female CEO, Lynas (ASX:LYC). There is an additional female-led mining company in the ASX 300, Adriatic Metals (ASX:ADT), helmed by Laura Tyler.
The number of companies with a female chair have increased from three to four, comprising South32 (ASX:S32), Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS), Deterra Royalties (ASX:DRR) and Westgold Resources (ASX:WGX), while that number could increase to five if acting Iluka Resources (ASX:ILU) chair Andrea Sutton gets the job permanently.
Three companies have a majority of female directors, up from one lastyear. They are Iluka with 60%, and Mineral Resources and South32 with around 55% each. Another two, Fortescue and Pilbara Minerals, have an equal split of men and women.
Seven companies have achieved gender parity in their senior management teams – BHP (ASX:BHP), Fortescue (ASX:FMG), Newmont Corporation (ASX:NEM), South32, Perseus Mining (ASX:PRU), IGO (ASX:IGO) and Gold Road Resources (ASX:GOR) – in line with last year.
The number of companies with no women in their senior management teams has remained stable at five. They are Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN), Capricorn Metals (ASX:CMM),Ramelius Resources (ASX:RMS), Vault Minerals (ASX:VAU) and Stanmore Coal (ASX:SMR).
The number of juniors with female managing directors has shrunk and includes Australian Strategic Materials (ASX:ASM), RTG Mining (ASX:RTG), Critica (ASX:CRI), Titan Minerals (ASX:TTM), Dynamic Metals (ASX:DYM), Helix Resources (ASX:HLX), Vital Metals (ASX:VML),Warriedar Resources (ASX:WA8), Recharge Metals (ASX:REC), Godolphin Resources (ASX:GRL), Eastern Metals (ASX:EMS) and Cazaly Resources (ASX:CAZ).
Indiana Resources (ASX:IDA), Metal Bank (ASX:MBK), BOA Resources (ASX:BOA), Zuleika Gold (ASX:ZAG) and Tambourah Metals (ASX:TMB) have female executive chairs, while Killi Resources (ASX:KLI) has a female CEO.
Juniors to have achieved an equal gender split on their boards include Develop Global (ASX:DVP), IperionX (ASX:IPX), Great Boulder Resources (ASX:GBR), Indiana and Metal Bank.
Shifting priorities
Executive search firm Acacia, which specialises in mining, tracks all appointments to ASX-listed board and management teams across the sector.
The data from its latest report suggests miners already abandoned DEI long before Trump waged war on it.
In 2024, there were 856 total appointments to ASX-listed mining, metals and energy companies, 20% higher than 2023.
The proportion of female appointments fell from 18% in 2023 to just 6% in 2024.
“While this trend is not exclusive to the Mining & Metals and Energy industries, it marks a setback in the progress toward achieving gender parity,” the report said.
While male board appointments remained steady in 2024, the number of female appointments dropped by 80. Despite an increase in the number of women appointed to executive roles, the percentage of female appointments dropped by 9% last year.
CEOs for Gender Equity CEO Ashley McGrath said the decrease in gender diversity held Australia back from reaching its full potential.
“Let the 300% reduction in the percentage of female appointments between 2023 and 2024 be a wake-up call for organisations to reassess their commitment to gender equity,” she said.
Hiring the ‘best brains’
Critica (ASX:CRI) managing director Philippa Leggat told Stockhead gender diverse workforces made good business sense.
“The way I see it is, why would you disadvantage the economic potential of a country as small as ours by taking out half the workforce? Don’t you want the best brains at the top because they’re the best brains?” she said.
Leggat said she hadn’t been a supporter of gender-based board quotas until recently, but it was clear the rate of progress was too slow.
“The reality is, until you make something a norm, it’s not a norm and there’s no incentive to change,” she said.
While Leggat may now be a leader, she has never had a female boss.
“For the first time in my life, I am now employing women with PhDs to support me, and it’s extraordinary,” she said.
“I can do my job better by having highly capable people supporting me. I don’t do what they do. They’re not after my job, but I really need them, and they are highly, highly competent and capable people, and I’m delighted it is my privilege and pleasure to have them supporting me.”
Women played a huge role in the discovery of Critica’s Jupiter deposit in Western Australia, which is Australia’s largest and highest-grade clay-hosted rare earth resource.
Geologist Angélique Martin led the discovery, while PhD geometallurgist Dr Natalee Bonnici established Critica’s rare earth deportment which facilitated its recent metallurgical success led by metallurgist Dr Thi Thu Hien Dinh.
Leggat said it was sometimes tough working in a male-dominated sector but she was hoping to be an example to women that she didn’t have starting out in the industry 20 years ago.
“It’s seeing the positives like that – my sphere of influence is small, but there seems to be an impact.”
*This story has been amended to reflect that Genesis Minerals does have a female employee in its senior management team.