Rio Tinto vice president – organisation resources Joanne Farrell was named 2012 Women in Resources Champion at the Chamber of Minerals and Energy Western Australia Women in Resource Awards this morning.

Farrell said Rio Tinto was very proud of its diversity and women make up 21% of its senior workforce, 18% of middle management positions and 28% of Rio’s first line leaders and superintendents.

“I believe in growing and having the talent pool coming up to create the future and I think Rio Tinto is doing an excellent job in regard to that,” Farrell said.

“I think the sharing of best practice is the best way for the whole industry to lift its performance in this regard.”

This is the third annual CME Women in Resources Awards, held traditionally on International Women’s Day. This year it attracted just over 900 attendees, more than double the amount from the first event.

“When you sit down and read the nominations we receive for the awards it is truly inspiring to see the women across a very diverse range of jobs in the sector,” CME CEO Reg Howard-Smith said.

The award ceremony was hosted by TV personality Narelle Jacobs.

Audience members included WA Minister for Mines Norman Moore, Rio Tinto Iron Ore and Australia chief executive officer Sam Walsh, Alcoa chairman and managing director Alan Cransberg, KPMG global head Wayne Jansen, Minerals Council Australia chief executive Mitch Hooke and Woodside Energy executive vice president Rob Cole.

Women in Resource Champion 2012 runner up, Brumby chief executive officer Alison Morley was also nominated in the Outstanding Professional Woman category for her work in leading flexible work practices in the resource sector and setting an example of how women can balance family commitments and critical senior roles.

The winner of the Outstanding Professional Woman award went to BHP Billiton principal electrical engineer Margaret Watroba, an avid supporter of women in engineering.

The remaining two finalists in this category were both from Rio Tinto: Charlotte McCully, manager mining at the Yandicoogina Operations and general manager for port services Marnie Finlayson.

Outstanding Young Professional Woman, a new category introduced at the awards received the highest number of entries across all categories and the winner was Woodside Energy environmental engineer Katrina Bukauskas.

Runner up finalists included Barrick Australia Pacific manager, environmental systems and development Allison Brown; Rio Tinto health and safety superintendent of technical assurance Caris Baldock; Barrick senior geotechnical engineer Emma Jones; Iluka Resources principal mining engineer Melinda Henderson; Alcoa of Australia occupational hygienist Ruth Delaporte and Leighton Contractors plant engineering superintendent Samreen Rahman.

The winner of the Outstanding Technician/Operator/Trade Woman award was fourth generation miner and one of the few female maintenance planners in Australia, Natasha Cann, who started her own consulting firm, N M Cann, which specialises in mechanical and electrical maintenance planning.

Another new category this year was the People’s Choice award, where the general public was able to vote online for any of the finalists which had been nominated.

The People’s Choice attracted 3500 nominations and the highest number of votes went to Fortescue Metals Group process technician Danielle Bancroft, who was originally nominated in the Technician/Operator/Trade Woman category.

Bancroft has been a strong advocate for women in resources for the past 10 years and has gained respect working with a predominantly male team in the Pilbara.

“The rewards of working in our mining industry far outweigh the trying times,” Bancroft said.

Bancroft said FMG had truly embraced indigenous opportunities in mining employment and hoped this acceptance could be extended to females in the workforce.

“I look forward to getting the Fortescue women’s initiative off the ground,” she said.

The 2012 Outstanding Company Initiative for the best program or practice to retain and attract women in the sector was awarded to Newmont Asia Pacific for its inspiring Driving Force initiative implemented at Newmont Boddington Gold.

Newmont identified there was lost production time occurring while full time equipment operators on 12 hour shifts were taking morning tea and lunch breaks at the mine, costing the company thousands of tonnes in lost production.

To solve this problem, the Boddington management team pursued the employment of women in the local community looking for work within the hours of 9am to 2pm.

The women involved were able to drop their kids off and pick them up from school while being trained for operator roles and developing their skills in the mining industry.

The new shift covered production down time during the breaks of the full time staff and an estimated 120-160 hours of equipment operational time was gained.

Employing locals has had many benefits in the Boddington community and has now created a niche job market for working mums who are able to up-skill their qualifications while contributing to the mine’s production.

Former Macarthur Coal CEO Nicole Hollows, who was a guest speaker at the Women in Resource Awards breakfast, said women should be evaluated on their own merit and individual talent when advancing into senior roles.

Although less than 10% of women in the top ASX200 companies hold board and executive management levels, Hollows is strongly against quotas to increase the number of women executives on mining boards.

Hollows said the “if not, why not” reporting measures for ASX-listed companies and setting targets were good initiatives, but companies should not be forced through quotas to put women on their boards.

“I don’t know about most women but I wouldn’t like to have a role just because I’m a female,” Hollows said.

“I’d like to be able to get it on merit.”

To help this matter, Hollows said women needed to be more confident in their skills and persistent in applying for management positions.

To increase the number of women leaders, resource companies need to identify and create a pipeline of female talent and attract, retain and promote women to develop their skills.

Mentoring, training and nurturing talent allows women more opportunities to reach senior levels in an organisation and this concept needs to be supported from the top level down and encouraged by supervisors, mine managers and the human resource department too.

CME research shows the number of women employed in the WA resource sector has grown from 18%-22% of the total, while the national female participation rate across all sectors is 42%.

“For those attending the event, it’s a chance to increase their knowledge and understanding of the opportunities out there for women but also inspires them to set their own goals, persevere with studies and hopefully one day pursue a rewarding career in the resources sector,” Howard-Smith said.

“CME will continue to advocate for more women in resources, not only as a way to address the current and future skills shortages, but because companies are recognising the power of a diverse workforce.”