Empowering women to play a more active role in Exxaro, the mining industry and the country is a strategic priority. But, for Exxaro, it is about far more than just making our workforce more representative. It is also a way in which we can combat the current skills shortage.

More than half of South Africa’s population are women and, therefore, so is half the country’s talent. Yet, in the mining industry, companies are struggling to increase the percentage of women in core mining skills to just one-tenth of their workforces. We need to develop and channel this talent into areas where it is needed most, with technical skills as our priority.

Exxaro is investigating a number of ways to boost the role of women in the group, with good results:

• 19% of Exxaro’s senior to middle management level is made up of women
• Women make up almost 13% of the group’s permanent workforce.