Rio Tinto’s Clermont Mine has been recognised for its efforts to boost the number of female employees in the Queensland Resources Council annual Resources Awards for Women.
The mine took out the Best Company Initiative category at the breakfast held in Brisbane.
Clermont Mine saw an opportunity to bring women into the industry with no previous skills or qualifications and develop them for leadership positions in the future.
The mine has set targets at each level of the business to ensure progress in female participation across the organisation.
Females currently make up 27.5 percent of the mine’s workforce, compared to an industry average of 11.3 percent. Additionally, of the women working at Clermont Mine, more than 8 percent of them are Indigenous.
The female employees come from a broad range of backgrounds including hairdressing, massage therapists, school teachers and detention workers.
The mine offers a choice of fly-in-fly-out arrangements or provides additional financial benefits if workers choose to live in Clermont. The arrangements offer flexibility and choice and women have taken up both options.
The Clermont Mine village was designed with females in mind, placing females in accommodation near other females and providing each female a buddy when they first start. It is a clean and security-focused village. A high proportion of the female workforce live in the village, offering a supportive network for other females.