Growing up on a 20-acre property in Brisbane meant self-confessed \u201ctomboy\u201d Karen Wellman spent most of her youth exploring the great outdoors. In fact, she could have been the next Indiana Jones.<\/p>\n
From riding horses and motorbikes to bushwalking and scaling mountains, it all served as an important foundation for her eventual career as a hard-nosed resource geologist.<\/p>\n
Wellman has run the ruler over some of the best-known gold mines developed in Western Australia over the past two decades. Think St Ives, Andy Well, Deflector, among others.<\/p>\n
Unsurprisingly though, it wasn\u2019t her chosen career path after graduating from high school.<\/p>\n
\u201cI actually wanted to be an archaeologist,\u201d Wellman told Stockhead<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cI did a lot of science subjects through high school, as well as ancient history, but when it came to choosing a university course, I thought archaeology was probably a bit narrow of a field, so I started off doing a double degree in science and arts, majoring in geology\u2026 and the rest is history.\u201d<\/p>\n Before completing her tertiary qualifications, Wellman was offered a one-year internship to move to WA and work as a geologist at St Ives, which at the time had just been picked up by Johannesburg-based miner Gold Fields.<\/p>\n \u201cI leapt at the opportunity because I\u2019d never been on a mine site and going to university in Queensland, you focus a lot on coal,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce I started working, I loved it, couldn\u2019t believe we were getting paid to do this. Gold Fields then offered to keep me on while I finished university part-time, and I\u2019ve stayed in WA ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Wellman on site at St Ives in 2005. Pic supplied<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Wellman quickly felt right at home at St Ives, and it certainly helped she wasn\u2019t the only woman on site.<\/p>\n Things could not have been more different at her next place of employment, however.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were no women at all,\u201d Wellman recalled. \u201cThere wasn\u2019t even a women\u2019s changeroom, it was clearly put in the plan that it was a cleaning closet, so the first thing I had to do was rectify that situation.\u201d<\/p>\n When Wellman first entered the industry, the stigma that women \u201cdidn\u2019t belong\u201d underground remained large, and on more than one occasion she was not so subtly told she was bringing \u201cbad luck\u201d to the site.<\/p>\n Although somewhat disheartened, Wellman knew the only way she could earn the same respect shown to her male colleagues was through sheer hard work.<\/p>\n \u201cI just kept being myself, I\u2019ve never been afraid of hard work, I wasn\u2019t afraid of getting stuck in,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Wellman is thankful times have changed and the broader resources industry has embraced more diversity in the workplace.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I started, work was very intense and there wasn\u2019t a lot of opportunities for conversations to change your situation or your circumstances if things were challenging or you didn\u2019t feel welcome,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cBack then, if you wanted to stay in the industry, it was a \u2018suck it up princess\u2019 mentality, whereas now I think we have a lot of conversations around mental health, harassment and these kinds of things. It\u2019s been a very positive shift for the future.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot more flexibility in the workplace now which is encouraging more women into mining and to stay around the industry. And it\u2019s great to see that flexibility getting applied to men as well, because men should be able to go pick up the children.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Wellman with the Dynamic Metals (DYM) team earlier this year. Pic supplied<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Resource estimation is not for the faint-hearted but Wellman credits years of having people looking over her shoulder and challenging the decisions she made for setting her on a course to one day becoming a CEO.<\/p>\n Wellman got her first taste of life in the C-Suite almost a decade ago as resources development manager for Doray Minerals prior to its merger with Silver Lake Resources (ASX: SLR)<\/a>. A few years later, she took the reins at Jindalee Resources (ASX: JRL)<\/a> \u2013 her first CEO role \u2013 and earlier this year oversaw the successful IPO of critical minerals explorer Dynamic Metals (ASX: DYM)<\/a> where she now serves as the company\u2019s founding managing director.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve got three children already, Dynamic is like my fourth child,\u201d Wellman laughs.<\/p>\n \u201cWe raised the funds in December last year at a time where the market was difficult, but we still managed to raise $7 million and get the IPO off the ground.<\/p>\n \u201cThis year has been very satisfying to see all the targets that we\u2019ve generated get drill tested, get the results and then coming up with more programs. I think for everyone in exploration, the best part of the job is drilling and seeing the results. It\u2019s been very fulfilling to see that through.\u201d<\/p>\n As for what she considers to be the defining moment of her career to date, Wellman often finds herself reflecting on a broker event she was invited to barely a month after starting as CEO of Jindalee in late 2020.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause of my previous roles, I hadn\u2019t really had a lot of interaction with brokers because my background was being the technical person, so I wasn\u2019t really sure what to expect,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cI turned up to the event on my own but very quickly I felt at ease because I knew a lot of the other managing directors and CEOs in the room, so I think that was definitely a moment where I was like, \u2018oh, I actually do belong here, these are my peers\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t get me wrong, it was still a room full of blokes, but I still felt at ease because I knew everyone from my pathway. And even more recently, in the last 12 months, at various times people I hold in great respect in the mining industry have sent me an email or seen me at a conference and given me a pat on the back and telling me I\u2019m doing a great job.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s been few \u2018oh, that person knows who I am\u2019 kind of moments that certainly make you feel like you belong.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Have an inspiring story about women in resources to tell? Email\u00a0michael.washbourne@stockhead.com.au<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Dynamic Metals is a Stockhead advertiser, they did not sponsor this article.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n The post Wellman scales new heights in dynamic quest for success<\/a> appeared first on Stockhead<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2018There wasn\u2019t even a women\u2019s changeroom!\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\u2018Dynamic is like my fourth child\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n