_{Return to Leading Women in Mining homepage}

Watch Pamela Ellemers from De Beers Group discuss some of the inspiring opportunities she has experienced throughout her career.

EY and Women in Mining Canada have joined forces to engage women in the mining industry through a series of interviews. Watch the interview with the inspirational Pamela Ellemers, principal Mineral Resource Manager – Canada, De Beers Group Technical and Sustainability. 

<sub>Pamela Ellemers Principal Mineral Resource Manager – Canada,
De Beers Group Technical and Sustainability

Pamela’s career in the mining industry has spanned more than 25 years, hear about the variety of leadership roles she’s held and her diverse experience with De Beers Group Canada.</sub>

Andrea De Paoli: Thanks so much Pamela for making the time to speak with us today. I'm really looking forward to talking to you about diversity and inclusion in the mining industry.

Pamela Ellemers: Andrea, thank you so much for the invitation. It's really lovely to be here with you today.

Andrea De Paoli: Okay, let's get started. How did you begin your career in mining and how has that led to where you are today? What are some of the key success factors that helped you achieve your goals?

Pamela Ellemers: Well, Andrea, I actually studied mathematics when I first started university, and I discovered that I had a love for the earth sciences when I took an elective in physical geography.

That led me to a summer job with the Saskatchewan Geological Survey up in northern Saskatchewan in a remote field camp. We made geological maps every day, we slept in tents, we bathed in the lake, we received letters from home via floatplane only every couple of weeks. It was really an experience that changed my life.

After that summer, I changed my focus to geology, and I worked five more summers in the field and I was a summer field student with De Beers Group. And when I graduated, I got a field job in Yellowknife and it was an incredible time, it was during the Diamond Rush. So my first job out in the field up in Yellowknife was during the Diamond Rush, so it was incredible.

So this range of experiences really gave me a strong foundation and led me to where I am today. I'm the Principal Mineral Resource Manager in De Beers Group Canada. So with respect to key success factors, I think there have been a couple that have been really strong for me, and they are people. I've had the privilege of having really, really strong mentors and sponsors, and their investment and commitment to me and my development was instrumental in leading me to where I am today.

Andrea De Paoli: That's a great story, Pamela. Thanks for sharing that. Let's talk about the present. What are some of the challenges facing women in the mining industry today?

Pamela Ellemers: I think one of the main challenges for women in the industry is the lack of female role models, sponsors and allies.

I have a little story that I'd like to share with you about our CEO, Bruce Cleaver. He's a thematic champion for United Nations Women. He's made a commitment to advocate for gender equality both within the company and externally.

So, in 2018 Bruce was on a really interesting panel at the UN Women's Summit and he was on the panel with other thematic champions for UN Women. Anne Hathaway was facilitating that panel and she started off with something really powerful that I want to share.

She said: "Why is it that women always have to break through the glass ceiling? Where are the men that will throw the boulder through the glass ceiling?"

And then she looked over to the panel and said: "There they are. Those are your allies."

And the reason I'm sharing that story is because allyship is so important. We're really fortunate in our company with our CEO and his executive committee that are very strong advocates for gender equality. But it's not just at the top level — It permeates through our organization at all levels.

Andrea De Paoli: That's a great quote. I'll have to remember that one for next time. How is De Beers Group contributing to creating opportunities and clearing a path for women?

Pamela Ellemers: So, I mentioned before that Bruce Cleaver is a thematic champion for UN Women. Our company started a partnership with UN Women in 2017, and as part of this partnership, we committed to three very public goals.

The first one was that we would be a positive advocate for gender equality in our marketing campaigns. The second goal was that we would reach parity in our appointments to senior leadership of women employees. Our third goal was that we wanted to support diversity initiatives in our operating countries.

So in southern Africa, we sponsored women entrepreneurs to start small businesses. In Canada, we started a STEM scholarship program for two universities in Canada, the University of Waterloo and the University of Calgary. And we also expanded that through Scholarships Canada, so we could better support women in the North.

But our initiatives are not just about our partnership with UN Women. It's really important that we have inward-facing programs as well. So in 2017 we started an inclusion and diversity working group to brainstorm and to talk about barriers that employees may be facing.

Andrea De Paoli: Those sound like fantastic initiatives. Why is it important to build awareness of opportunities for women in the industry?

Pamela Ellemers: It's so important to highlight the women role models in our industry. That was one of the programs that came through our roadshows, was one that we called Make Your Mark. If we want to increase the representation of women in the mining industry, we have to make sure that women understand the opportunities that are there. Therefore, we have a program where we highlight some of our women role models in various positions. We do this inwardly, but we also take this information to communities.

Some of our outreach that we do I think is really important and we do that with youth, young women. It's really important to talk to young women about career opportunities that are available in mining so that by the time they get to high school, they can take the appropriate courses, such as STEM subjects, so that they don't miss any opportunities that might arise without having those subjects.

Historically, there have been a lack of women at senior leadership levels in industry, and I think that something that we do that is really important, our networks. So, for example, Women in Mining Canada, our new chapter in Calgary for Women in Mining and Geoscientists of Canada. It's really important to have an opportunity to network with other women in industry to hear their stories and be inspired by them and share our journeys.

In the mining industry, women are underrepresented, so all women have an opportunity to be a trailblazer. When I think of trailblazers, I think of innovation, I think of adventure-seeking, but I think of someone that's willing to take risks to forge a new path.

The importance of forging a new path, though, is not moving forward and not looking back. The importance is making sure that while you're forging a new path, you're looking back to ensure that you're encouraging others to come along the same path. Encouraging them, advocating for them and ensuring that you can help them identify and navigate any barriers that may exist. Trailblazers are important in the industry to see what the opportunities are in mining.

Andrea De Paoli: I 100% agree, that's great advice Pamela. Are you excited about the future for up-and-coming women in the mining industry?

Pamela Ellemers: I am excited. I've spoken about some of the inclusion and diversity work that we're doing in De Beers, but this is also happening in other companies across Canada, which is really, really great for the industry.

In De Beers, we're working on a really ambitious new strategy, it's called Building Forever. It's got four pillars. The first one is protecting the natural world. Tthe second one is partnering for thriving communities. The third one is ethical sourcing. And the fourth one is accelerating equal opportunity. This pillar encompasses a lot of the inclusion and diversity work that we're working on.

We have some really exciting goals for 2030, one is reaching gender parity in De Beers for representation of women in the company, but we also want to assist 10,000 women with entrepreneurial pursuits in southern Africa and we want to help 10,000 girls and introduce them to STEM: science, technology, engineering and math. So these are really, really exciting things that we're working on in De Beers.

Andrea De Paoli: Those are really exciting and ambitious goals. What advice would you give to women interested in a career in mining or currently working in the industry? 

Pamela Ellemers: So that's a great question. I've had a really amazing career at De Beers Group. I'm a woman in STEM in a male-dominated industry, so the path hasn't always been an easy one. But I think what’s made it really rewarding is the mentors and the allies and the sponsors that I've had that have helped guide my path along the way. They’ve helped me identify barriers and helped to remove barriers so that I can just focus on being a good geologist.

I think the second piece of advice is when you look at your career, I think a lot of people expect that your career path is a very straight line. But what I've found is that my career path has actually been quite complicated. But that's okay. And the reason it's complicated is because your career evolves as opportunities arise, and as you take those opportunities and take risks, it evolves.

So my advice is to make sure that you drive and pursue opportunity, don't be scared to take risks. Because that's how we grow, and that's how we thrive and that's how we develop in what we want to be.

Andrea De Paoli: That's fantastic advice. Thanks so much, Pamela, for your time today and for sharing your inspiring story.

Pamela Ellemers: Andrea, thank you so much. It was really lovely to be here with you today. And just one final thing I'd love to say is that I really look forward to the day when we don't talk about the woman geologist or the women engineer, because women will be filling these roles and it will be the norm.