South32's Amanda Crehan is a finalist in Gender Diversity Champion category of the 2021 NSW Women in Mining Awards on June 24.
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Mr Crehan has worked at Illawarra Metallurgical Coal for 15 years and presently oversees its exploration department.
The latest recognition is for her work supporting the company's female employees and encouraging more women to pursue careers in the local mining industry.
Ms Crehan has been instrumental in setting up initiatives that have helped IMC attract and retain highly-skilled women into a broad range of mining and corporate roles, including leadership positions, underground and engineering jobs.
Dendrobium Mine general manager Anna-May Fauconnier said South32 was proud to champion inclusion and diversity. And IMC felt its workforce should represent the communities it operates in.
Presently it has 96 women working across a broad range of operational and functional roles, including 15 women in leadership roles.
"It's fantastic to have such a broad range of talented women working at South32 Illawarra Metallurgical Coal," Ms Fauconnier said.
"We want to enable more women to pursue successful careers with South32. Amanda Crehan's work supporting and empowering our female employees has been inspirational."
In 2020 Ms Crehan created IMC's League of Women Network after identifying an opportunity to support female employees through building relationships and critical professional skills.
The network promotes internal networking and excellence among female employees and allows those who work across different sites and shifts to share exchange ideas and experience.
Meetings for the network are held regularly, facilitated by an external coach with extensive experience in the mining industry. Sessions focus on topics such as resilience, work-life balance and confidence.
Amanda also established IMC's Inclusion and Diversity Policy and Framework and IMC's Inclusion and Diversity Steering Committees. Both aim to help attract more female graduates, increase retention rates and empower more women to pursue leadership roles.
Many of South32 IMC's female workers also participate in mentoring programs, inspiring and encouraging female students who might be considering a career in the mining industry to pursue their ambitions.
South32 IMC also recently built more female bathhouse facilities and underground toilets at its operations.
Human resources manager Katie Grant was named runner-up in the Exceptional Young Woman category of the 2020 NSW Women in Mining Awards. She has also been instrumental in helping to set up many of the initiatives to support women at IMC. In 2019, she developed and introduced a guideline to support working women in operational roles during pregnancy.