Celebrating Women in Mining: Meet the Hot 30 Awards Judges

Mining has traditionally been a male-dominated industry, with women accounting for a small percentage of the workforce. However at CORE, we are so proud to have team made up of more than 80% women and we are even more proud of all the incredible female leaders, engineers, geologists, mine managers, and safety professionals we get to work alongside every day.

There can be quite a lack of female representation in the industry, especially in high level roles. According to a report by the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), women make up just 16% of the global mining workforce.

CORE Innovation Hub’s Hot 30 Awards is helping to highlight women in the industry, not just with our Female Led Innovation Award, but with our judging panel as well. Five of our seven judges are phenomenal women with impressive careers, deep knowledge, expertise and experience across many facets of the industry.

MEET THE JUDGES

Alex Blood, Executive Director, South Australian Department FOR Energy & Mining
Judge for South Australian Innovator of the Year Award

Alex Blood is Executive Director Mineral Resources, within the South Australian Department for Energy and Mining, which she joined in late 2017 from the private sector.

Alex’s experience spans state, national and global levels for a wide variety of mining, oil and gas, infrastructure and industrial projects across Australia, Asia-Pacific and Africa interacting with lenders, governments, communities and a wide range of stakeholders.

She has held global and national corporate and technical advisory roles. She is Chair of the Australian New Zealand Board for environmental professional certification. Alex has received a number of project technical awards and was the first woman to be awarded Australian Environmental Practitioner of the Year.

Kylah Morrison, General Manager WA & SA, METS Ignited
Judge for Emerging Industry Award

Along with being General Manager for WA & SA at METS Ignited, Kylah is a multi-award winning leader and graduate of AICD.

Kylah has over 14 years’ experience working in private companies in the oil & gas industry, indigenous organisations, not-for-profits, and start-ups. From 2016 to 2019 Kylah championed regional economic development as the President, then CEO of the local Chamber of Commerce, and Founding Chairperson of the Pilbara Universities Centre.

Living and working for nine years in Karratha, Kylah has a deep understanding of risks and challenges experienced by corporates, government, local businesses and indigenous organisations operating in remote and regional Australia, particularly in North Western Australia.

Kylah leverages this experience in her current roles as General Manager WA & SA for METS Ignited, and NED for Province Resources. She holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical) and Master of Engineering Management from Canterbury University. Kylah is passionate about diversity and inclusion, indigenous affairs, corporate governance and sustainability.

LAUREN MCGREGOR, DIRECTOR PROJECTS, RESOURCE CAPITAL FUNDS
JUDGE FOR Equipment Innovation Award

Lauren is a powerhouse having joined the Jolimont/Resources Capital Funds team in 2019 after a 14 year banking career, most recently with Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s Natural Resources team in Perth. Lauren has broad, global experience in origination, project and corporate finance, corporate turnaround and restructuring.  In her role as Director – Projects at RCF, she is responsible for the delivery of strategic projects including new fund development, ESG initiatives and investor relations projects.  

Lauren holds an MA(Oxon) in Ancient and Modern History from Oxford University and an MBA from Curtin University.  She is also a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD).

Rachelle Doyle, Manager – Research & Development at Rio Tinto
Judge for Sustainability Innovation Award

Rachelle is a passionate energy transition champion and clean energy leader. She is an experienced professional with over 20 years’ experience working in the energy and minerals processing with significant experience in provision of technology and engineering solutions for complex projects and operating environments. She believes building long-term meaningful relationships is critical to enable sustainability and energy transition to net zero emissions. 

Rachelle impressive career has seen her hold positions at Woodside, Fortescue and currently Rachelle is Manager, Research and Development for Rio Tinto Iron Ore and is the current chair of the Standards Australia ME-093 Hydrogen Technologies committee and a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers.

Renee Hakendorf, National Innovation Lead, CORE Innovation Hub
Judge for Indigenous Innovation & Innovator of the Year Awards

A woman who needs no introduction, CORE’s very own Renee Hakendorf. Renee is an experienced GM and Operations Manager, and in her in role of National Lead for CORE Innovation Hub, she focuses on creating connections for innovators with industry in the energy and resources sector across Australia.

She is passionate about creating thriving innovation communities that leverage the collective experience of its members to solve grand challenges.

Previously Renee has run the University of Adelaide’s incubator, ThincLab where she worked with 100+ startups annually to grow their ventures, secure customers and investors, build teams and validate a path to market. She spent 10 years working in various roles across research commercialisation and prior to that managed the marketing for iconic brands including Lexus, Toyota and Australia Post.

Renee’s formal qualifications include a Bachelor of Management from UniSA as well as training in Entrepreneurial Operating Systems (EOS). She received a Federal Government scholarship to attend the National Startup Leaders Mission to Israel in 2018 and is an active member of the Startup ecosystem in South Australia.

CORE is so proud to see and represent such impressive women working across the mining industry. While challenges remain, we strongly believe that with greater diversity not just at the gender level, the mining industry can achieve better performance and greater sustainability. It is important that women and all diverse groups continue to pursue careers in mining and break down the barriers and shape the future of energy and mining.