To celebrate International Women\u2019s Day, we conclude our women in mining series with one of the pioneers of the resources industry
\nBronwyn Barnes is executive chair of Indiana Resources and has been in the industry for +25 years despite having a non-traditional mining background
\nShe was the first West Australian to win both the state and federal champion woman in resources awards in 2015<\/p>\n
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Indiana Resources chair Bronwyn Barnes is the very definition of diversity in the resources sector.<\/strong><\/p>\n Barnes is widely recognised as a pioneer in what has long been a male-dominated industry. The fact she has forged such an impressive career in mining and exploration after being headhunted from a non-traditional background only adds to that elevated standing.<\/p>\n \u201cI think there\u2019s this perception that to work in mining you have to be a geologist or a mining engineer or an accountant,\u201d Barnes tells Stockhead<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cBut that\u2019s a perception I think mainly exists outside the mining sector for people looking in, but I think for people actually in the mining sector, we know that you need one of everything to make a mine work. It\u2019s a really diverse skillset and I think that nowadays people are much more embracing of not having that traditional path into the sector.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s lots of bits and pieces that go into building mining companies and mining projects, but am I ever going to plan a drill programme? No. Am I ever going to tell you where to put your pit? No. But am I going to tell you how to get your framework agreement approved by a foreign government? Yes. Can I tell you how to raise finance? Yes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Barnes with the Mod Resources community relations team in Ghanzi, Botswana, prior to the company\u2019s takeover by Sandfire. Pic: Supplied<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Perth-raised Barnes vividly remembers school excursions to the Alcoa refinery and Bunbury port, as well as television footage of iron ore mines opening up in the Pilbara when she was in her teens.<\/p>\n Despite what was going on around her, Barnes never coveted a career in resources. Instead she became a French interpreter for an ASX-listed company in the R&D sector, specialising in federal government lobbying.<\/p>\n Barnes was coming off maternity leave in the late 1990s when a young Andrew Forrest called her out of the blue with a job offer at Anaconda Nickel, desperately seeking her particular skillset.<\/p>\n \u201cHe needed a government lobbyist so I ended up working at Anaconda for a couple of days a week,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cSo that\u2019s how I got into mining. It was more by accident than by design.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Barnes with Mod\u2019s Botswana country manager Gaba Chenyepi in Ghanzi in 2019. Pic: Supplied<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Since that first day at Anaconda, Barnes hasn\u2019t looked back. Senior roles at WMC Resources and BHP (ASX:BHP)<\/strong><\/a> soon followed before she found her way to the managing director\u2019s chair at junior nickel explorer Graynic Metals.<\/p>\n In 2014, she landed her first chair role with the Mark Creasy-backed Windward Resources and was instrumental in that company\u2019s eventual takeover by its much larger neighbour in the Fraser Range, IGO (ASX:IGO)<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n Barnes also sat on the board of Mod Resources prior to its acquisition by Sandfire Resources (ASX:SFR)<\/strong><\/a> and now serves as executive chair of Indiana Resources (ASX:IDA)<\/strong><\/a> which is currently exploring for gold, base metals and rare earths in South Australia\u2019s Central Gawler Craton.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never left the resources sector,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019ve had board roles in other sectors on the way through (including Synergy and Perth Racing) but I\u2019ve always worked in resources. I\u2019m not sure how long it is now, I stopped counting at 25 years.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Signing of the Letter of Intent between High Power Exploration (HPX), the Government of Liberia and Guma Africa Group earlier this year. Barnes is the president and CEO of HPX. She is pictured here with Liberia President HE Joseph N Boakai, I-Pulse (major shareholder HPX) chairman and co-founder Robert Friedland, Guma Africa chairman Robert Gumede, US Ambassador (Ret) J. Peter Pham and HPX legal counsel Gerald Padmore. Pic: Supplied<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n It is in leadership positions where Barnes has truly excelled and she credits her success with various companies towards a personal commitment to keep on learning.<\/p>\n \u201cI love having leadership roles, I think the helicopter view \u2013 the view from 40,000 feet \u2013 is a fascinating view,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very challenging at times but what I\u2019ve learned and bring with me today is the value of the team and culture inside businesses. Wherever I go, I try to build teams that are cohesive and focused and have a certain amount of respect within the team.\u201d<\/p>\n Her leadership credentials have been put to the ultimate test since taking on the chair role at Indiana where she has spearheaded the fight for compensation for shareholders following the unlawful expropriation of the Ntaka Hill nickel project<\/a> by the Government of Tanzania in 2018.<\/p>\n Barnes says last year\u2019s ruling by the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) was a defining moment for herself, the company and the wider resources industry.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s happened at Indiana is certainly a lesson that I think a lot of other mining companies could learn from around security of tenure and around what to do when things go wrong,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019ve done a remarkable job at Indiana to get the decision we did from ICSID, particularly when compared with some of our other colleagues who are going through a similar process with ICSID.<\/p>\n \u201cMining keeps coming back to that relationship aspect. It\u2019s the relationship with your staff, the relationship with your host communities, the relationship with your host governments, and the relationship with your shareholders and your financers. I think that\u2019s probably one of the sectors of the mining industry that we don\u2019t tend to talk about so much, but for me that\u2019s an area where I spend a lot of time.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Barnes on site at the Nimba iron ore project in Guinea last year. Pic: Supplied<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Given her early career as an interpreter, Barnes was always desperate to work in French-speaking West Africa.<\/p>\n Unfortunately it took her several years to be afforded that dream opportunity.<\/p>\n \u201cI applied for multiple jobs working on the ground in Africa and was turned down for all of them because it was perceived that Africa was no place for a lady \u2013 lucky I\u2019m not a lady,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cI think I\u2019ve carved out a remarkable career in leading companies in African jurisdictions. I\u2019ve never had any issues and I think the security issue is something that can be managed. And, don\u2019t forget, it\u2019s a security for both men and women, depending on which jurisdiction you\u2019re in.\u201d<\/p>\n Her fearless attitude towards approaching potentially confronting situations can perhaps be tracked back to one of the very first Diggers & Dealers conferences, where she was just one of two women in attendance.<\/p>\n Two decades later, Barnes would accompany her adult daughter \u2013 now a qualified stockbroker \u2013 to the parochial Kalgoorlie mining event which has been criticised over the years for not being female-friendly.<\/p>\n \u201cThe atmosphere and the attitude towards welcoming women at Diggers is a lot different compared to when I first went there,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s a reminder of just how many more women are in the industry generally now, but also how many more women are in executive and leadership roles. That certainly wasn\u2019t the case when I first started going to Diggers.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve still got a long way to go. I\u2019m still not seeing women in the numbers that I would like leading companies and on podiums and being recognised as capable of not only developing assets, but also doing the finance, fundraising, government liaison piece, etc. I think that women can make a fantastic contribution in all of those areas, but I think we continue to be underestimated.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Barnes panning for gold with artisanal miners at Kenieba, Mali, in 2018. Pic: Supplied<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Barnes is unsure when came the \u201ccoin flip\u201d moment where she felt her sense of belonging in the mining industry, but she often reflects on becoming the first West Australian to be crowned both the Outstanding Woman in Resources (state) Exceptional Woman in Australian Resources (national) awards in 2015.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve worked exceptionally hard to get to where I have and to win both of those awards was tremendously exciting and very humbling,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cThen you just get busy and get back to work, really. Winning awards doesn\u2019t pay the mortgage.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Indiana Resources is a Stockhead advertiser, it did not sponsor this article.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n The post Bronwyn Barnes \u2013 Blazing the trail for women in mining<\/a> appeared first on Stockhead<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The day Twiggy came calling<\/strong><\/h2>\n
View from the top<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\u2018I think we continue to be underestimated\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n