SUSIE CORLETT

Board Director

Susie Corlett arrived, an eager young geologist, on a Tasmanian mine site in the early 1990s, only to be confronted by an angry mob of miners who refused to work with a woman underground. The burly men actively protested against her presence, insisting that a woman would “upset the protective spirits” in the mine. For Susie (pictured right), it was a confronting scene. Watching senior executives break up the rabble, she realised that life as a geologist was going to be tougher than she’d anticipated.

“I thought that equality had arrived already,” she tells

The Weekly. “We were so far away 30 years ago. We’re still well off the pace today, as we are in many industries. But certainly, looking back, I didn’t realise how hard the road was going to be.”

Raised in a family of boys, Susie was not deterred from pursuing her dream career in mining and exploration by the industry’s reputation. But the protest at the Tasmanian mine was just the first in a long line of challenges.

“It was a time when naked women on posters in lunchrooms was common,” she says. “When I moved to one of the rougher mining towns, I opted not to live in the single men’s quarters because it didn’t seem like a safe environment. I caused a huge furore by renting my own home. And I wouldn’t wear dresses or skirts. I would be really conscious not to draw attention to being female ... I’ve put up with experiences that would be completely unacceptable in today’s workplace.”

When she was younger, she missed out on opportunities because the employer “couldn’t see a young, blonde woman doing the job”. Later, she was passed over for leadership roles and “told I was ineligible on account of being female. That’s not that long ago.”

There has also been what she calls “this overreach with unwanted physical contact ... I’ve had various powerful men leverage power to seek sexual favours on multiple occasions. I’ve left a dream role because the work environment wasn’t psychologically safe. In those days, there weren’t safe, effective reporting mechanisms.”

But Susie believes mining is a fantastic career for women, and as a senior leader she has been “in the trenches making change”. This means safety audits, safe reporting mechanisms, transparency and clear industry standards – not just within her own organisation, but across the entire industry. “This is a watershed moment,” Susie says.

For her, mining promised adventure and that’s exactly what she got. “It took me to all parts of the world and delivered on that promise to work on projects that make a difference.” And she wants other women to have those opportunities too.

“I have no doubt,” she says, “that we’re moving through a really painful reckoning in the short to medium term, but it will lead to transformational change ... I hope that, in 10 years’ time, being a female in mining is such a normal part of the landscape, it’s totally unremarkable.”