A report by the CCM-Eleva alliance presents the percentage of women in the mining industry and the number of women hired in the first half of the year. The report suggests that career development pathways need to be strengthened.
Women’s participation in large-scale mining continues to rise, though not by leaps and bounds. A study by the CCM-Eleva alliance shows that women currently make up 24.1% of the mining industry’s total workforce. For years, the sector has implemented initiatives and programs to increase the number of women in the industry, meeting the goals set by the companies themselves.
However, the increase compared to last year is minimal: 2025 closed at 24%. The most recent six-month period recorded 12,413 women in the industry’s workforce of 51,000. Despite this, the study highlights that “Chile maintains its international leadership in female participation in mining companies, positioning itself as a beacon for gender equality in the sector.”
That said, the mining industry was male-dominated for years. So much so that for decades, a saying circulated among workers that mines and mineral deposits would become “jealous” when women entered, leading to accidents. In fact, women were legally barred from working in underground mines by a law that was repealed only in 1996.
Participating in the monitoring are mining giants such as BHP, Antofagasta Minerals, Codelco and Collahuasi and others, which account for nearly 95% of the country’s total copper production. The sample also includes companies that produce other minerals—Novandino for lithium, CMP for iron and Gold Fields for gold.
From a historical perspective, 24.1% is a significant milestone. It is even more noteworthy considering that, according to the survey, some mining companies report an extremely high female representation of 45.8%. The lows, however, fall far short of that figure, hovering around 10.2%. The wide gap stands at 35 percentage points.
“This suggests that, while the sector as a whole has made significant progress, significant differences persist in the pace of adopting diversity policies, the characteristics of their operations, and opportunities for women’s inclusion, depending on company type and region,” the report notes.
About a decade ago, the figures were even lower than the latest data. In 2014, the reported representation of women in large-scale copper mining stood at 7.7%; thus, based on this year’s figures, the presence of women in the industry has tripled over the past twelve years.
Paula Arenas, Executive Director at the Mining Skills Council (CCM), commends the percentage growth and notes that the data must be put into perspective, given that more than a decade ago the figures were far below what is now being reported.
“We are witnessing a structural transformation that has enabled their representation to more than triple,” she notes.
“It is to be expected that, as an industry reaches historically high levels of participation, the pace of growth will begin to moderate. That does not mean the process has stopped, but rather that we are entering a new phase,” says Arenas, emphasizing that Chile’s female participation rate continues to rise steadily, without any setbacks.
The study’s representative observes that the challenge is not merely to bring more women into the industry. Rather, it is to ensure that they remain in the mining industry, advance their careers, access leadership positions, and expand the pool of female talent for the years ahead.
Source: La Tercera.