The South Australian Chamber of Mines & Energy (SACOME) has announced the winners of the 2022 Women in Resources Awards.
SACOME CEO, Rebecca Knol said the Women in Resources Awards champion diversity and help celebrate women who are contributing to the success of the South Australian resources sector.
“SACOME congratulates the finalists and winners who demonstrate going above and beyond their day-to-day roles to promote the resources sector in the community.”
“Recognising exceptional women in resources is vital if we are going to meet the growing demand for professionals in South Australia’s high-tech, highly skilled resources sector.”
The Hon Katrine Hildyard MP, Minister for Women, said “Diversity within the resources sector makes the industry and our state stronger.”
“It is excellent to celebrate the achievements of these outstanding, trailblazing women in resources who are making a difference in this traditionally male dominated sector,” she said.
“Congratulations to every woman who has been nominated for an award for their extraordinary efforts – efforts that will no doubt inspire future generations of women to take on roles within the sector,” she added.
Chancellor of the University of South Australia, Pauline Carr, said it’s important to recognise outstanding women in all fields.
“I am delighted to announce the finalists of the Women in Resources Award, all of whom are doing wonderful work in their respective roles,” said the Chancellor.
“While the past two years have been challenging for all sectors, it’s important to pause and recognise excellence among our workforces.”
The Hon Tom Koutsantonis MP, Minister for Energy and Mining said, “These awards are a celebration of diversity and success in a field which can be largely male dominated. It is not surprising, but it is exciting to see workers in this field recognised for going above and beyond in their field.”
Exceptional Young Woman in Resources Award
Recognising an outstanding young woman 30 and under who has shown significant promise and achieved significant milestones in her career to date, this award acknowledges her contribution to promoting the resources sectors’ reputation and standing in the community and increasing inclusion and diversity.
Winner: Tessa Ormerod, Senior Geotechnical Engineer, OZ Minerals
Tessa is an active and founding member of the Inclusion and Diversity Council at OZ Minerals Carrapateena mine and manages a women’s feedback box and communication board for staff on site. She’s an active member of the ‘women in mining network,’ leading the mentoring program in 2021 and is involved in the OZ Minerals community outreach program. Other finalists in the Exceptional Young Woman in Resources Award were Princess Ladra, Mechanical Reliability Engineer, Nyrstar and Zenoushka Bynevelt, Mine Geologist, BHP.
Exceptional Woman in Resources Award
The Exceptional Woman in Resources Award recognises the exceptional achievement of a woman in the resources sector and acknowledges professional success, leadership skills, resilience, methods of overcoming barriers, and seeking out and accepting new responsibilities and challenges. The award also celebrates work to promote the industry’s reputation and standing in the community.
This year, judges elected to award two winners for this award:
Winner: Cassie Chamings, Superintendent – Security, BHP, Olympic Dam
As Superintendent of Security at BHP’s Olympic Dam site, Cassie Chamings inherited a function of extremely low inclusion and diversity and a contracting workforce reluctant to change. She has worked extremely hard to turn this around, breaking new ground for women in the security and mining industries by leading Olympic Dam to be the first Minerals Australia asset to achieve gender balance in security.
Winner: Jessica Balasso, Head of Technology, BHP, Olympic Dam
Jessica Balasso presides over the Technology function across the Olympic Dam asset and is responsible for the delivery of fit for purpose technology systems, services, people, and infrastructure to ensure safe and reliable production across the underground mining operation as well as managing governance and risk. She is also sponsor of numerous training, improvement, and mentorship programs which have resulted in measurable improvements to operational performance and culture at Olympic Dam.
Other finalists in the Exceptional Woman in Resources Award were Anne Abraham, Gas Production Optimisation Engineer, Beach Energy and Donna Newman, Superintendent – People, OZ Minerals.
Winners in each category have been elevated to finalists in the Women in Resources National Awards which will be announced during Minerals Week in Canberra on Tuesday 6 September 2022.