Despite the significant changes and challenges seen this year within diamond miner Petra Diamonds – with cost cutting across all areas of the business, which inevitably affects various initiatives within the business – Petra remains committed to furthering diversity and inclusion, by focusing on empowering its female leaders through its Women in Leadership (WiL) programme.

WiL aims to provide women with a more empowered voice in the organisation, reports the miner.

The programme, along with other initiatives, enables Petra Diamonds to attract and retain top talent and strengthen employee satisfaction, in line with the company’s aim to reflect the demographics of the societies in which it operates.

WiL particularly aligns with the company’s aim to encourage leadership at all levels throughout the group to think broadly about diversity while ensuring that appointments and succession planning practices support diversity.

Since its launch in 2021, 29 women leaders have graduated from the programme, while 22 women participated in WiL in the 2023 fiscal year.

The programme comprises a series of webinars and conversations on topics such as personal mastery, influencing others and decision-making.

This initiative is part of Petra Diamonds’ broader strategy to foster an inclusive environment where women can thrive and lead, says Petra.

The company also supports the Stellenbosch University Business School Senior Manage-ment Development Programme. Eight mid-level and three senior managers completed the programme – of whom 45% were women – in the 2023 fiscal year.

Celebrating Achievements
The achievements of several women at Petra Diamonds have assisted in improving their respective departments, the company highlights.

Petra Diamonds group human resources (HR) and public affairs executive Thashmi Doorasamy has driven transformative changes with the introduction of a unique Petra culture code, established by and for the workforce.

Doorasamy has driven structure and remuneration that is defensible, fair, transparent and equitable in addition to embedding sustainability into HR practices to integrate the Petra Sustainability Framework into everyday work.

Petra Diamonds technical services and assurance manager Kopano Maisela has been "impressive" as the Women in Mining (WiM) chairperson at Finsch mine, in the Northern Cape, from 2020 to 2024, the company reports.

In this role, Maisela has led initiatives focused on education, health and economic empowerment while ensuring personal protective equipment standardisation for women working in mines.

“Under her leadership, [Petra's] WiM started an expression room, offering support to new mothers returning from maternity leave. She also initiated a reusable sanitary towel drive, targeting local host communities around Finsch mine,” highlights Petra.

The company explains that these initiatives have positively impacted female employees, noting that Maisela’s objective was to tackle the difficulties affecting women working in mining while fostering a welcoming and accommodating environment.

Further, Petra Diamonds environmental, social and governance reporting lead Marietjie Reynecke significantly improved the company’s sustainability reporting and practices, with a focus on water management, waste recycling and energy consumption.

“She built environmental goals for the company and ensured that sustainability monitoring was conducted correctly at our operations, and drafted the initial environmental policies and procedures,” says Petra.

Reynecke also led a programme to phase out plastic at operations and manage wastewater and recycling.

At a mine level, Petra Diamonds has employed women in various positions, exemplifying the diverse roles they occupy in the company.

In the 2023 fiscal year, 21% of Petra’s workforce were women, and the company achieved a 50% female internship rate, the company concludes.