Women in Mining (UK) speed mentoring event

by Amanda Wills

Last Wednesday night I attended a WIM (UK) speed mentoring event, the first such event to be held in the UK outside of London. 18 women and 2 men met to network and enjoy a 3-course dinner at the Princess Pavilion, Falmouth, Cornwall.

Mentors and mentees at the WIM(UK) event on Wednesday June 22
The cards show the table names!

WIM(UK) speed mentoring evenings are designed to provide the opportunity for mentees to meet with mentors over an informal dinner to discuss their professional development goals and aspirations. In our case, we had two mentors per table, with four mentees joining them. The mentees then swapped tables at the end of each course, giving them the chance to meet and talk with all the mentors.

Amanda Wills (MEI) and
Victoria Lowe (Wolf Minerals)

As one of the mentors, I was happy to find myself sat opposite my fellow mentor, Caroline Digby of the Centre for Sustainability in Mining and Industry at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa ,and we were joined for our starter by Victoria Lowe, who is currently working as a process plant operator at Wolf Minerals at Drakelands on their graduate scheme, and Olivia Johnson, who also works at Drakelands, as an ore quality geologist.

Holly Elliot (CSM) and Dee Bradshaw
(Uni of Cape Town)

Caroline gave us an interesting insight into how the recent EU referendum in the UK is being viewed in South Africa, as well as being able to talk about the current state of South Africa's mining industry. It was very interesting to hear from Victoria and Olivia how Wolf Minerals' Drakelands mine is developing.

Eleonore Lebre
(Sustainable Minerals Institute)

Once we moved on to our mains, Caroline and I were joined by Holly Elliot, a research fellow at CSM, and Kathryn Hadler, a lecturer in minerals processing at Imperial College London, and conversation moved on to how to maintain your career whilst starting a family.

For dessert we were joined by Narina Shorland, of Wardell Armstrong, and Eleonore Lebre, a research student at the Centre for Social Responsibility at the University of Queensland's Sustainable Minerals Institute.

Beth Simons (CSM), Shafiq Alam (Memorial University of Newfoundland),
Narina Shorland (Wardell Armstrong) and Sally Norcross-Webb
(Stephens Scown LLP)

Kim-Marie Clothier (North Coast Consulting), Holly Elliot (CSM)
and Sarah-Jane Williams (Stephens Scown LLP))

Dee Bradshaw (Uni of Cape Town) and
Kathryn Hadler (Imperial College)

Frances Wall (CSM), Amanda Wills (MEI) and
Narina Shorland (Wardell Armstrong)

John Wilton (Antofagasta) and Mary O'Neil (CSM)

We all agreed that we'd had  a great evening and plans are now forming for our next WIM(UK) event in Cornwall.