Program participants will complete a 12-month certificate II in surface extraction operations while employed with Rio Tinto or Macmahon Holdings as a fly-in, fly-out worker, employed on a two-week on, one-week off roster.

The first group of 11 women began the traineeship at Rio's Hope Downs iron ore operation and at Macmahon's Orebody 18 site in Western Australia, having completed six weeks of pre-employment training.

The pilot project developed by RITC has been supported in a joint venture by the Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia and the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association.

CME chief executive Reg Howard-Smith said the resource sector was always looking for new ways to improve participation by women and indigenous people.

"Industry is keen to design career paths for indigenous workers that will see them progress within companies while furthering their skills and work experience," Howard-Smith said.

"Traditional and existing skilled labour pools are being depleted rapidly so we need to be developing new training and employment streams to meet the projected labour demand."

He said the program would encourage more indigenous women to take up a career in the resources sector.

"Employers are realising the strong benefits to employing women," he said.

"Female employees not only address labour shortages, they create more balanced workplace cultures that promote job satisfaction, productivity and employee retention."