Women’s award accolade for Newcrest mine manager
The first female mine manager at Australia’s largest producing gold mine – Newcrest Mining’s Cadia Valley Operations – has been named the ‘Exceptional Woman in NSW Mining for 2022’.
Health, Safety and Environment Manager at Cadia Valley, Lyndsay Potts, was announced the winner at the NSW Minerals Council’s Women in Mining Awards ceremony in Sydney.
The event was attended by more than 250 people including representatives from the mining industry, the community and many MPs from the Government and Opposition, including the NSW Minister for Women Bronnie Taylor, NSW Deputy Premier Paul Toole, Shadow Minister for Women Jodie Harrison and Shadow Minister for Natural Resources Tania Mihailuk.
Potts has forged an untrodden path in the resources sector, taking up postings and leadership positions where there had been no female predecessor.
Her leadership brought significant health and safety improvements and saw Cadia East achieve a record 221 days without any recordable injuries.
Potts has juggled an impressive career while raising three young children and has used her leadership role at Cadia to strongly advocate for women in mining, including in her role as Cadia’s inclusion leader.
“These awards are a fantastic way of highlighting the efforts and achievements of women in mining. These incredible role models show young women and girls that there is so much potential for them in this industry,” Taylor said.
“We need more women to aspire to leadership positions in the NSW mining industry, now more than ever as we rebuild our economy following the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Other winners included Hetherington’s Tamara Woods who was named ‘NSW Exceptional Young Woman in Mining’ at the Awards ceremony.
Woods has become a highly sought-after senior adviser in developing community consultation strategies for clients, assisting in navigating and enhancing negotiations between all interested parties for important mining and exploration projects.
Emily Jaques from Newcrest Mining’s Cadia Valley Operations received the ‘Technological Innovation Award’ for developing the world’s first application of Hydrofloat technology for the recovery of sulphides.
Michelle Wetherell from CMOC-Northparkes Mines was awarded the ‘Gender Diversity Champion Award’ for her work in overseeing the introduction of the company’s parental leave program which resulted in a 100 per cent return to work rate. She has championed more flexible work-life-balance for all employees, including overseeing the first job-share arrangement in an operational role.
The ‘Outstanding Trade, Operator or Technician Award’ was presented to Casey Martin from Alkane Resources–Tomingley Gold Operations, a pioneer for women seeking to forge a career in mining.
In her previous role at the CSA mine in Cobar, Casey was the first woman on-site to gain a blasting explosives user licence.
In 2021, she joined Tomingley Gold Operations as an underground bogger operator, again breaking new ground as the first woman underground at the operation.
The winners in the five award categories will be entered into the Women in Resources National Awards.