In the lead-up to International Women\u2019s Day on 8 March, we\u2019re celebrating some of the champion women of the resources industry
\nJeneta Owens is managing director of Godolphin Resources and previously managed the regional exploration division for Rio Tinto at the Northparkes copper-gold mine in NSW
\nA late bloomer to the industry, Owens was a mature-age graduate and single parent to a young daughter when she landed her first job as a geologist<\/p>\n
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Mineral exploration isn\u2019t for the faint-hearted. Neither is raising a small child as a single parent. Jeneta Owens took on both challenges concurrently.<\/strong><\/p>\n Owens was a mature-age student when she enrolled in geology at the University of Tasmania. With a young daughter in tow, she then formally entered one of the toughest industries on the planet.<\/p>\n It was arguably the most challenging period of her life, but one that appears to have steeled Owens for the position she now finds herself in, as managing director of rare earths explorer Godolphin Resources (ASX:GRL)<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cGetting into mineral exploration is challenging because most of the time it involves being away from home,\u201d Owens tells Stockhead<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a single parent, how do you really manage that with a small child? You have to strike a really good balance between being a parent and your own career goals and aspirations and the work you can actually do.\u201d<\/p>\n Owens spent a short period doing fly-in, fly-out work while her daughter was in boarding school, but despite the best efforts of all involved, it never quite worked out as she hoped it would.<\/p>\n Suddenly, the breadth of job prospects looked very thin.<\/p>\n Then came knocking an opportunity to manage Rio Tinto\u2019s (ASX:RIO)<\/strong><\/a> regional exploration programs around the established mining town of Parkes in New South Wales, and the rest is history for Owens and her family.<\/p>\n \u201cI was very lucky to be involved with companies that actually valued what I was providing them from a work perspective, they had operations that were residentially based so I could be out there exploring and still be home every night,\u201d Owens says.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s kind of the slant I took to industry. I potentially might have had different experiences if I wasn\u2019t a single parent, but I\u2019m thankful I still had options, even if they were limited.\u201d<\/p>\n Jeneta Owens during her early days as a geologist in Tasmania. Pic: Supplied<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Owens grew up in rural Tasmania and completed an apprenticeship when she was just 17, alongside another young girl, making them the first two females to do so in the company\u2019s 150-year history.<\/p>\n It meant Owens experienced what it\u2019s like to be the minority in a male-dominated industry from a very earlier age.<\/p>\n Fortunately, she wasn\u2019t subject to the same discrimination and \u201chorrible workplace conditions for a female\u201d when she crossed over to the mining and exploration sector years later.<\/p>\n \u201cI actually had very supportive managers and support generally when I first entered the mining industry,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was the odd driller that was a bit left of centre and the odd person that had a few issues, but because I had the support of my managers and colleagues, I felt comfortable to raise it and just deal with it on the spot.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was actually more later on in my career, as I started to move up the ladder so to speak, that I noticed more discrimination against me personally.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Owens participated in a mines rescue competition as part of Rio Tinto\u2019s Northparkes team. Pic: Supplied<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Owens, now part of a blended family, recalled a time when one of her managers scolded her for taking carer\u2019s leave instead of annual leave to look after an unwell child which wasn\u2019t one of her own.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause this child didn\u2019t come from my own loins, my manager knew that and made things really difficult for me, which is something I still struggle to get my head around,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m at an age now where because I\u2019ve experienced discrimination because of my gender in my early years, I\u2019ve become quite a bit desensitised to it. A lot of things just wash off me and it\u2019s not until something\u2019s really blatantly in my face that I\u2019m actually aware of it.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat really does make me feel happy is the younger generation of females that are coming through; these girls just accept nothing. They actually take people to task and I think it\u2019s just the most amazing thing. It\u2019s a real shifting environment in our industry now; people are very respectful and actually think about this as part of their daily life.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Diversity, inclusion and \u201cgiving everyone a voice\u201d are central to the culture Owens is looking to foster at Godolphin, which controls one of the largest rare earths deposits on Australia\u2019s East Coast via the 94.9Mt @ 738.95ppm TREO resource at Narraburra, about 340km west of Sydney.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone has a voice and it needs to be listened to,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really important to listen to what people are saying and then work with them to resolve any issues, if there are issues, and just understand where people are coming from, because we all bring our own baggage to the table and sometimes just understanding what that is can really open your eyes up about how a person operates and how they can be happier in the workplace.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Owens joined Godolphin as managing director in June 2021. Pic: Supplied<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Owens admits to being taken aback at times when she receives praise from her peers, whether that be concerning the regular technical commentary she provides online or for simply speaking her mind about other matters relating to the mining and exploration sectors.<\/p>\n If she could make one change to the industry for the better, it would be to further reduce the time people are away from their families on long working rosters.<\/p>\n \u201cI know everyone\u2019s been doing it for a long time, but society is changing and it\u2019s not as accepted anymore,\u201d Owens says.<\/p>\n \u201cAs an industry, we need to manage this moving forward, because people are not going to want to be away from their families for extended periods like we have come to know in the days gone by. Families are more connected, everyone\u2019s more involved and I think we need to do something address that.\u201d<\/p>\n Owens says while she would like to see more diversity amongst graduates in mining and exploration-related university courses, she believes the greater challenge is encouraging women to return to the workforce after having families.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really hard to get mums back once they have children, many end up becoming teachers or going to other professions,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to get more women returning to the industry after having families and moving up to that next level.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Godolphin Resources is a Stockhead advertiser, it did not sponsor this article.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n The post Exploration and parenthood: Godolphin boss masters the art of multi-tasking<\/a> appeared first on Stockhead<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A pioneer for women in more ways than one<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Leading from the front<\/strong><\/h2>\n