An industry-leading approach to diversity and inclusion has resulted in national recognition for Anglo American at the prestigious 2024 Women in Resources National Awards in Canberra. 

The Inclusion and Diversity Champion in Resources national award went to Workplace Support Manager Kanae Dyas who has pioneered a program dedicated to supporting our women while committing to zero tolerance of bullying, sexual harassment or discrimination.

“Kanae has won this award for her exceptional commitment to fostering inclusion, diversity, and equity within the resources sector,” Minerals Council of Australia said. 

“Kanae’s leadership in developing impactful programs has set a new standard for cultural and gender safety in the industry.”

Anglo American – which operates steelmaking coal mines in the Bowen Basin – was also highly commended in the Excellence in Diversity Programs and Performance category for a suite of programs designed to drive female leadership.

Anglo American took out both awards at the 2024 QRC/WIMARQ Resources Awards for Women in Queensland on International Women’s Day in March. These wins qualified them for the national awards.

Anglo American Australia CEO Dan van der Westhuizen, who attended the awards last night at the National Arboretum, said the event highlighted the commitment and significant effort across the entire resources sector to ensure a diverse and inclusive environment to empower women and to achieve their full potential.

He said Anglo American in Australia was committed to ensuring true gender equity and inclusion.

“I congratulate Kanae, the passionate force behind our industry-leading Workplace Support Unit, for taking out the Inclusion and Diversity Champion award,” he said. 

“She has already made great strides in improving our culture; ensuring we have safe spaces for people to speak up.”

Ms Dyas said the resources industry had made significant progress because it had the maturity to see the value in diversity and inclusion.

“We need safe, inclusive, and equitable spaces for women to thrive; career development and progression opportunities; increased leadership and executive roles for women to inform, drive and sustain change; and to close the gender pay gap,” she said. 

Mr van der Westhuizen said receiving highly commended in the Excellence in Diversity Programs and Performance category confirmed “our approach is steering us in the right direction”.

“The introduction of a suite of programs – including Enabling You, RealYOU, Let’s Listen Forums and WoMine - have helped us create a more supportive environment and had a positive and sustainable impact on our company’s culture,” he said

Head of People, Capability and Organisation Ben Mansour, also at the Canberra event, said this recognition came off the back of a concerted effort to increase the number of females in leadership positions across the company’s steelmaking coal operations. 

He said diverse teams were more productive, innovative and creative. 

“We set ourselves a task to create an innovative, inclusive and diverse people strategy that helped us create an equitable organisation for every employee,” he said. 

“We created an environment where employees could easily connect with accessible mentors to propel their career goals. This has not only benefitted our female workforce but also a diverse range of employees from differing backgrounds. 

“We designed a forward-thinking strategy to bring women into non-traditional technical and operational roles by building talent pipelines from graduate, apprenticeship and trainee programs.

“This has allowed the organisation to achieve an elevation of merit-based appointment of women into leadership roles, ensuring informed decision-making and equal representation at every stage. 

“We’ve achieved significant milestones, including women now holding a third of key leadership roles at Anglo American’s Australian operations. 

“It’s just the start, but we are committed to driving a values-based culture where talent knows no gender and where every individual is given the opportunity to thrive.”

In Australia, Anglo American operates steelmaking coal mines in Queensland’s Bowen Basin, along with additional joint venture interests in steelmaking coal and manganese, and base metals exploration projects in Queensland.

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