Women in Mining financial director Melinda Moore said though bad practices still existed in the mining industry, many companies were taking leading roles in making the sector more accessible to women and generally delivering effective gender equality programmes.

"It's really important to stress that we're boosting safety, boosting well being and boosting attendance rates, just by changing the culture," she told the Mining Journal Stakeholder Engagement programme.

She said the industry had been suffering from a decline in strategic thinking by keeping women at arms length and had also seen senior men walk away from the sector in disgust at some of the outdated thinking.

"Companies are changing and that's fantastic to see."

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