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The sector was rocked by another sexual assault allegation over the weekend, this time at the Roy Hill iron ore mine.
It comes as the Western Australian Parliamentary inquiry into sexual harassment in the mining sector prepares to table its report on Thursday.
Herbert Smith Freehills partner Melanie Debenham told the first of AMEC's Afternoon Tea Series on Friday the inquiry was an opportunity for an open and frank discussion.
"The challenge for the industry now is what do we do with this information?" she said.
"Let's take that and implement enduring change."
IGO head of people and culture Sam Retallack also sees the inquiry as an opportunity.
"Sometimes there needs to be truth-telling in order to lead to change," she said.
"You really can't move forward unless you are honest.
"We've all got an opportunity now to do something that stops it forever."
AMEC established the series as an inclusive, informal event to stimulate discussion on issues impacting the industry.
The inaugural afternoon tea focused on women's path to leadership roles in the sector.
Tara French, a geologist who joined Cazaly Resources as managing director last year after 14 years with Regis Resources, urged women to take every challenge they could get.
"It's important for women to back themselves," she said.
"When the Cazaly opportunity came up, the HR manager said to me ‘if you were a bloke, you'd back yourself 110%'".
However, French said implementing quotas could be detrimental to women.
"The best person for the job should be hired every time," she said.
Debenham said authenticity was important for women and men looking to climb the career ladder.
"Being your authentic self can really help," she said.
"Being heard and being visible is incredibly important."
Retallack said the availability of paid parental leave for both men and women was really important and the increasing number of men taking parental leave helped them relate to women in the workplace.
"We've got this fantastic shift of people who ‘get' each other," she said.
Retallack said diversity was aided by strong leadership, saying IGO Peter Bradford had created an inclusive company culture.
While the mining industry is nowhere near gender parity, IGO was one of the better performers in MNN's 2022 Gender Diversity Scorecard, rating highly across board, senior manager and overall representation.
Retallack said younger workers placed much more of a focus on diversity.
"I'm absolutely infinitely optimistic that we have a generation coming through that will make this change," she said.
