Taking home the premier recognition this year at the Women in Industry Awards was Brooke Adamson, an all-processing manager at Newmont looking after a team of 300 across a range of multibillion-dollar copper concentrators.
There were a total of 15 women awarded during the celebration held in Sydney, with Adamson taking home both the Woman of the Year Award and the Excellence in Mining Award.
“I look after Australia’s only Molybdenum Plant, all of our services operations, and heavy haulage, so that’s in my work life,” Adamson said.
“But I couldn’t do it without the support of my family and my partner, who has sacrificed part of his career to support me.”
Adamson also said that there are many people throughout the mining industry who uplift women in their roles.
“Without those sponsors and advocates, giving me the confidence to put my name forward and [believe] that I could do it, I wouldn’t be here tonight,” she said.
“So thank you for this; I am incredibly honoured.”
Adamson was awarded the Women of the Year at the end of the night, first receiving the Excellence in Mining Award, to which she said she felt overwhelmed, but also honoured to have been chosen and recognised for her efforts.
She spoke on her career in mining, which started 18 years ago, and began with her being an aspiring metallurgist with a “dream of one day becoming a leader”.
Working both day and night shifts for six months on the concentrators, Adamson said that it was a period which could “make or break” her career.
“Fortunately, I had one of the most positive experiences [that time], and what I could consider a career highlight,” Adamson said.
“The predominantly male team embraced me, supported me, and made me feel included; they laid the foundations to my career.”
Years later, she returned to Newmont’s Cadia operations in New South Wales, where she first began, but now with the responsibility of managing eight departments, million-dollar budgets, and teams with the “most diverse and inclusive” people.
“Over my years in mining, I have witnessed positive change and what strikes me is how the workplace is changing,” Adamson said.
“There are fewer occasions when I am the only female in the room, and comments have changed from women not being strong enough to operate a plant, to ‘I would hire 10 of her if I could’; but we still have work to do.”
Adamson said that the challenges for women as compared to men in the workplace are still prevalent, and that greater encouragement for women in the field must be continued.
“We need to provide women with the feedback that they are doing an exceptional job, to help boost their confidence, call out behaviours that aren’t aligned with our values, and stand beside them,” she said.
“We need to be their biggest supporters and advocates, and we need to encourage everyone within our industries to do the same, together.”
