Locally-based women-owned company Pinpoint Stewards has committed to raising the profile of women in South African mining. The "It's DUE " Women & Leadership in Mining conference, taking place on 30 & 31 August, aims to Develop, Unite and Empower women to take the next step in their career and lead. 

The company, alongside its media partner Mining Weekly, have combined their efforts to ensure equal reporting and visibility of women in leadership.  The women-owned business has focused its efforts on growing the status of women, with the Women in Mining conference being one of three empowerment conferences for women  with leadership in engineering, infrastructure and innovation as well as Government  & State-owned enterprises following later in the year. 

“It was once again a difficult task to find and pinpoint women leaders in the mining sector and while there has been some movement it seems to be the same women climbing the ranks. We hope to change that by profiling new upcoming leaders in South African mining and at all levels,” says Pinpoint Stewards co-owner Ankia Roux.

With the Minerals Council and its members setting stretch targets to double the percentage of women in mining by 2025, towards a 30% to 40% representation across industry and 50% in management over the next decade, the conference will discuss how this can be achieved realistically.

Mining companies have nominated their current leaders and upcoming talent to participate as speakers during the two-day conference and include companies such as: Impala Platinum, Anglo American Kumba Iron Ore, De Beers Group, Venetia Mine, Exxaro, WiMSA, Overlooked Group, Tshepa Basadi Group, Glencore Alloys-Wonderkop Smelter, Salungano Group and Sibanye Stillwater.

Roux adds, “We aim to keep our conferences personal and therefore the programme is not packed with back-to-back speakers and streams, purely to ensure the speakers and audience there have ample time to voice ideas, network with one another and talk business.”

Sponsors are called to support this initiative and fund the broadcasting of the event to young women at school-level and universities, to encourage them to choose a career in mining or to sponsor student attendance. The conference beneficiaries are WiMSA and Lighthouse Baby Shelter, in Randburg.

For more info email info@pinpointstewards.co.za