Tim le Roux (Lonmin, South Africa) explains how benefits of integrating women in mining go beyond the workplace and that—in addition to legal requirements—there is a business case for addressing gender issues in the industry.

I am Tim le Roux. I am the manager, employment equity, at Lonmin Platinum. We are a platinum mine in the northwest province in the Republic of South Africa. We have approximately 25,000 employees and we mine platinum group metals.

As with the greater South Africa, we also have certain commitments in terms of women and mining as put out in our social labor plan to which we have made commitments. Our role? We basically report to two government departments: Department of Mineral & Energy Affairs and the Department of Labor. So in response to legislation, we prepare reports that are compulsory that we send in—and we have various things that we prepare for throughout the year (mandatory site visits, inspections, labor inspectors, etc.)

In terms of women and mining more specifically? There are a number of issues there. It is relatively new (not brand new, but relatively new). In general, the South African society is still grappling with getting women into the working place. There have been some great advancement and a number of very positive things have happened. However, there are also a number of remaining challenges. There are a lot of cultural and social issues—and some discriminatory issues that still exist quite strongly and have to be dealt with. And there are a lot of practical issues as well in terms of infrastructure. Simple things as change-houses (for women), protective equipment suitable for women, we have issues of pregnancies, etc... a number of issues that we have to deal with. This often appears like a mountain to many typical line supervisors and managers. When they are confronted with this initially, they often say, "No, that's it. It just won't work". It is a slow (change) process and we are slowly identifying the different areas to address and began identifying some champions to help us phase in "women in mining". We could just recruit a thousand women tomorrow—no problem—but you would probably loose a thousand in 2 months. It is a case of being ready, set-up and having everything in place as well to deal—because it is quite a change for the industry.

It is an issue of integrating women in the workplace in terms of the society in general and our communities and the positive spin-offs of that—which are less tangible and of which most line managers are not aware. They don't understand and are still grappling with those. We can make a good business case there as well, and sell and market it. So in fact, it should not just be a mandatory, legally pushed requirement, but it should really be a natural process that takes place and happens naturally with time. A lot of good things are happening and it is only a matter of time when there won't be any discrimination in terms of gender. And they will be looking for the right person for the job. That is when the playing field is leveled—and it will happen, and we are working at that.