Women in mining: technology, worker shortage create opportunity.

• Author: Bohi, Heidi
• Position: SPECIAL SECTION: MINING

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As the mining industry becomes one of Alaska's biggest players and scrambles to fill thousands of jobs that will be needed within the next decade, what has traditionally been a male-dominated industry now has little choice but to make room for women.

A shortage of workers in positions ranging from entry-level jobs, requiring minimal training, to top brass slots, calling for the experience and smarts of proven professionals, means more and more women are being relied on to solve a serious human resource shortage and mine administrators are seeing them as a critical corner piece of the puzzle. When it comes to getting the support of proposed mining projects from the hosting regions, filling these jobs with locals instead of Outsiders is going to be the difference between communities welcoming mega mining developments with open arms, or failing to see how the mines will benefit them.

When Susie grows up she wants to be a crusher--or driller, mine-manager, resources attorney, truck driver, camp cook, geologist, engineer, human resources manager, construction foreman, machinist, accountant or chemical analyst. Historically, labor-intensive field jobs are one of the reasons men have been first in line. But as mining relies more and more on technology, the industry advances even more quickly with opportunities for women.

Of all Alaska's industry groups, in 2006, women earned the most in natural resources and mining, which includes the oil industry, according to the Alaska Department of Labor gender and wages analysis. Women in natural resources and mining earned $51,808 in 2006, about 42 percent higher than the industry group with the next highest average wages. Yet, women made up 13.4 percent of natural resources and mining's work force, the second-smallest percentage of any industry group.

Mining companies are doing their best to make operations more women-friendly and appealing to even little girls, recognizing that if they are going to meet their production timelines by staffing operations with local hires, the sooner they show youth the opportunities and benefits of the industry, and how to be a part of it, the better.

Women are making a name for themselves in mining. Cynthia Caroll, CEO of Anglo American, one of the largest mining companies in the world, launched her career as a geologist in Alaska. As the leader of the company that is a co-developer of the Pebble project, at 53, she is ranked by Forbes magazine as the...