In the lead-up to International Women\u2019s Day on 8 March, we\u2019re celebrating some of the champion women of the resources industry
\nJess Maddren is chief executive of Corella Resources and recently returned to the exploration scene after a long stint on the services side of the industry
\nThe Perth-raised geologist boldly applied for jobs in Mongolia and the Middle East after graduating from university<\/p>\n
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Jess Maddren\u2019s career has come full circle, but the proud Sandgroper has no intention of returning to her home state on a permanent basis.<\/strong><\/p>\n Maddren joined Perth-based kaolin and silica explorer Corella Resources (ASX:CR9)<\/strong><\/a> as chief executive last August, tasked with leading the company\u2019s transition into developer and eventual producer of HPA raw materials from its suite of projects across Western Australia\u2019s Yilgarn Craton.<\/p>\n The only condition to her appointment was that she remained based on the Gold Coast where she\u2019s living the dream on a 1.5-acre property barely six minutes from the one of the country\u2019s most beautiful beaches.<\/p>\n \u201cI won\u2019t leave now, I know when I\u2019m on to a good thing,\u201d Maddren tells Stockhead<\/em> from her \u201cgorgeous\u201d home base.<\/p>\n \u201cI can pick opportunities. This place was one of them, Corella is another.\u201d<\/p>\n Maddren\u2019s return to the mineral exploration sector comes more than two decades after graduating as a geologist (with honours) from The University of Western Australia and follows lengthy stints in senior roles with analytics specialists ALS (ASX:ALQ)<\/a> and integrated services provider Downer (ASX:DOW)<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s how I ended up here,\u201d she explains. \u201cI was running three of Downer\u2019s wholly-owned subsidiaries and the biggest one of those had their biggest factory on the Gold Coast.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Maddren\u2019s career almost went in an entirely different direction had her father not intervened and encouraged her to pursue a profession that offered both financially stability and \u201cwould give me the best options in life\u201d.<\/p>\n The young Maddren had her sights set on becoming a marine biologist, which is not the least bit surprising, considering she and her family grew up in what was the closest house to the beach along the whole Perth metro coast.<\/p>\n In fact, her mother planted the pine tree which now stands as the tallest along that particular stretch of coastline, next to the historical fishing cottage in Trigg where Maddren resided for the best part of 17 years.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Classic 90s: Jess Maddren (second row, far left) on a caving\/geology trip with fellow students from Churchlands Senior High School. Pic: Supplied<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n When the time came to select a university course, Maddren opted for geology. And while her father was pleased, her decision was met with a high degree of scepticism almost every time she hopped into a taxi.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery single taxi driver in the late \u201990s was apparently a geologist who couldn\u2019t get work,\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was so crazy. But I\u2019m a girl that sees patterns and data or landscapes and I knew enough back then about human behaviour and that we typically stick to this 7-15 year cycle. I don\u2019t know why exactly, but our memory seems to do this thing where we get hyped up and then we get disappointed before we get hyped up and disappointed again.<\/p>\n \u201cThe market does the same thing. So I kept telling myself, \u2018look, forever and more, markets have gone up and down, forever and more, markets will continue to go up and down \u2013 let\u2019s try to come out on the upside rather than the downside\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Maddren\u2019s confidence in the market turning for the better obviously permeated through to her younger sister Lanee, who also studied geology alongside newly appointed Corella non-executive director Ben Hammond.<\/p>\n Maddren on a geology field trip during her uni days. Pic: Supplied<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Having topped several of her GIS classes at university, Maddren was desperate to get out into the field and stuck into some \u201cproper exploration\u201d like what she is now back doing with Corella.<\/p>\n Rather than go looking in the perhaps more familiar surrounds of WA, she applied for a job in Mongolia of all places.<\/p>\n Maddren was interviewed by phone and asked straight off the bat what she looked like.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately for me, the job wasn\u2019t for a young, blonde, fair-skinned woman, even with the skill set I was bringing to the table,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a real issue with women working in Mongolia back then. This was in 2002. But things have changed fundamentally over there since BHP and Rio Tinto moved in about 10 years ago. For exploration geologists out there, it\u2019s quite normal to be female now, but that wasn\u2019t the case at the time I was being hired.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember saying to the guy who interviewed me would they take the reverse skill set of a six-foot-five guy, and he said, \u2018yeah, do you know someone?\u2019, so a male friend of mine got the job instead.\u201d<\/p>\n As she would go on to prove over the course of the next two decades, Maddren didn\u2019t take the rejection personally and immediately applied for another job, this time in the Middle East, which was also rebuffed on similar grounds.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Maddren during one of her first field trips to Outback WA. Pic: Supplied<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Unlike the environment which is now being fostered for women in resources today, Maddren felt the only choice she had back then was to \u201csuck it up and move on\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThere wasn\u2019t any space or support to make a big deal out it, you just worked around it,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cAs women, we just sucked it up and learned how to work within the system, otherwise, you were never going to be progress. If you became too loud or anything like that, you were labelled painful and you wouldn\u2019t progress. That goes for a lot of industries which have been male-dominated for so long.<\/p>\n \u201cBut we\u2019ve now seen those trailblazer women and the support come out for diversity and change. We\u2019re all more vocal about it, which is great. I feel proud that we\u2019ve empowered the young girls of today to speak up, so they don\u2019t have go through what so many women have had to go through.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m proud that we\u2019re changing as a community, there\u2019s no other way to look at it. If you ponder on it too long and wrap yourself up in it, you will never move on.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Having just chalked up six months in the chief executive\u2019s seat at Corella, Maddren\u2019s only regret appears to be not reaching out to managing director Tony Cormack earlier about a potential role with the company.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the big reasons I joined was because I trust and respect Tony, and his core values and my core values match,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s why I took the role at Corella and I love the fact that my career has rounded back around to something that, in the very beginning, was why I got into it. You get to meet some amazing, inspirational people in this industry. People like Tony become lifelong friends and you get to work together to create value based around geology.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Maddren with Corella managing director Tony Cormack. Pic: Supplied<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n And while for now she has no issues with Corella being comprised of \u201cme and the boys\u201d, Maddren dreams of one-day potentially leading an all-female exploration company.<\/p>\n \u201cThere just isn\u2019t enough of us females in the mining industry right now, but with the right people, it\u2019s possible to do quite amazing things,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cWith the right team and the right resource, magic can happen.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Corella Resources is a Stockhead advertiser, it did not sponsor this article.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n The post You can\u2019t take a girl out of the Goldie, but if the geology fits\u2026<\/a> appeared first on Stockhead<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From little things, big things grow<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\u2018A male friend got the job instead\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n
It\u2019s me and the boys\u2026 for now<\/strong><\/h2>\n