SMALL mining companies had failed to emulate their larger capitalised counterparts in improving representation of female and Black employees, said Reuters citing comments by Carole Cable, the chair of Women in Mining UK.
Employment of women in the traditionally male mining sector has risen and averages between 5% and 15%.
“The leadership has to come from the top… the majors like Anglo are leading the charge on that, but the juniors are falling woefully behind,” said Cable who was speaking a virtual London Metal Exchange seminar.
There has been scant progress in increasing Black representation in financial services, said Pamela Jones, co-founder of Genesis Consultancy in the Reuters report.
“I have been in financial services for 25 years. When I joined I was the only Black woman on the trading floor and when I left financial services at the end of last year there were two Black people on the trading floor,” she told the seminar.
“It is quite upsetting, if I’m honest.”
McKinsey & Co said in a report five years ago that on a full potential scenario in which women participate in the world economy identically to men it would add up to $28 trillion in value, about 26% of annual GDP in 2025.
A more recent study by Accenture in 2019 focusing on South Africa found that inclusion of women could “unlock” R319bn for the economy.
South African headquartered company, Sibanye-Stillwater, said last month it had targeted a doubling of female employees by 2025, and a 40% to 50% increase over time in line with a similar target being rolled out by the Minerals Council South Africa.
“I intend we will not be stumbling blocks,” said Sibanye Stillwater CEO, Neal Froneman of his male colleagues’ roles in helping transform the workplace. “We quite like the idea at a general level (of gender equality), but we don’t make it easy,” he said.
“We allow women to do the heavy lifting and then raise an eyebrow when they experience challenges.”
