WOMEN IN MINING (WIM)
Although mining has always been regarded as a male activity, women in Africa typically play a significant and much larger role in artisanal mining as compared to large-scale mining.
In Guinea, women represent 40% of the workforce in the artisanal mining sector. They are involved in different stages of the operations, from digging and pulling gravel, to washing and sorting the ore, transporting raw and processed materials. Some of them run small businesses to supply the mines and camps.
Small-scale mining may offer an attractive path out of poverty for rural communities. But women face an array of gender-related challenges. Their working conditions are particularly difficult. They can work an average of fourteen hours a day, six days a week and still have to raise a family. Despite the risks of landslides and other rudimentary mining hazards, these women have no life insurance. When an accident happens, they and their family are not compensated. Small-mining must become an engine of development.
As the only woman-owned mineral exploration company in West Africa, Tigui Mining Group is proud to provide equal job and training opportunities. TMG is proud to employ women in key roles.
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Esperance Nevri in prospection for TMG in Guingouine with her fellow geologists-Cote d'Ivoire.
WOMEN IN THE IN THE MINING INDUSTRY:
Espèrance Nevri, geologist
In the mine, we are all miners," says Esperance, a 30-year-old geological female geologist who joined TMG in 2016. Esperance, who has always loved natural science, graduated from the Graduate Institute of Mining, Oil and Energy Group CSI Polytechnic Pole in Abidjan. She has multiplied experiences in the field, passionate about the riches of the natural resources. She acknowledges that, often, being the only woman in the mine can be difficult. This was not enough to discourage her. "With determination and perseverance, anything is possible," she says. Today, Esperance would like to see more women hired in the mineral resource industry.
