Whitehaven Coal’s Kirsten Gollogly is in the running to be recognised as one of NSW coal’s most exceptional women.

The NSW Minerals Council has announced the finalists for the 2018 Women in Mining Awards and Whitehaven’s General Manager Health, Safety, Environment and Communities is one of three finalists in the exceptional woman in mining category.  Ms Gollogly said the nomination was reflective of how the industry has changed.

“Things are changing quite rapidly,” Ms Gollogly said.

“I have an engineering background and when I started the ratio would have been one woman to six men in the course, but now there is a great deal of diversity in terms of gender, ethnicity and background.

“We are all one workforce, we are all one community.”

The Brisbane native, turned Gunnedah local said she is committed to continue to engage with the community.

“It’s something I really enjoy about Whitehaven is the very strong focus on being members of the community,” she said.

“Whitehaven supports hiring locals, when you look at small towns like we live in, 50 per cent are females and if you want your workforce to be reflective of your community, you need to be welcoming of all diversities such as, gender, age, ethnicity and that is something Whitehaven supports quite well.”

Whitehaven Coal CEO and Managing Director, Paul Flynn said Kirsten is very deserving of her nomination.

“Everyone at Whitehaven is very proud of Kirsten for being nominated for the NSW minerals council exceptional woman in mining award and we wish her the best of luck at the awards on March 15,” Mr Flynn said.

“Whitehaven is committed to providing local jobs for local people and increasing our rates of female and indigenous workforce participation.

“More than 75% of Whitehaven’s workforce live in the regions surrounding our operations and it’s great to see local people being recognised for their hard work and achievements.”

The awards dinner will be held at McCullough Robertson Lawyers, in Sydney on March 15.

Article by Billy Jupp of Namoi Valley Independent