An all-female exploration crew has commenced drilling activities on two new prospecting sites of Kumba Iron Ore.
“We are proud to announce that we have deployed our first all-female exploration drilling crew at Sishen. We believe this is a first in South Africa, if not the broader world, and we’ll be looking for more of these opportunities to help us achieve our goal of being truly sustainable, right from the start of the value chain,” said Themba Mkhwanazi, CEO of Kumba.
Kumba Iron Ore, with its drilling partner Rosond, is rolling out a fleet of next-generation exploration rigs that incorporate completely automated rod handling and are operated by remote control from secure air-conditioned cabins.
Ricardo Ribeiro, managing director at Rosond, says usually drilling is intensive physical work that requires substantial physical strength, due to the handling of rods and heavy equipment that gets loaded into the machine.
Ribeiro says the technological advancements have removed the need for heavy physical work, and this has enabled his company to include women in its drilling operations.
According to Stuart MacGregor, head of exploration for Kumba, the mechanisation of drilling has helped women step out of the shadows. He says women comprise about 24% of total employees at Kumba.
“There are already clear benefits of women working in mining. Women operate the machines with more care,” he says.
MacGregor says they are doing diamond and pressure drilling which is the first stage of finding resources. There are currently 32 drilling teams working on one project – a major drilling of thousands of metres.
MacGregor says exploration drilling does not require tertiary education, which means there is reach into the community at exactly the level where new employment has the most benefit for South Africa.
He says it is great to see how women from communities around the mines are coming in, drawing a salary and growing in confidence.
