MINERAL RESOURCES

Shelley Robertson grew up in rural WA and was the first person in her extended family to attend university, having held multiple jobs since the age of 14 to self-fund her studies. When she commenced engineering at UWA she soon realised she was in the minority – being one of only 18 girls in a cohort of 200, with only two remaining by the end of the year.

Entering industry, she encountered gender bias in the shape of a boss who was infuriated to learn Shelley was pregnant. But after spending 10 years contracting across a variety of fields in the resource industry, she got a break when her first full-time job in a decade was for a female managing director who was happy for Shelley to work from home while caring for a young child with type 1 diabetes.

Shelley has committed herself to busting myths about women in mining and resources and joined Mineral Resource as Executive General Manager – Energy after previously leading a joint venture partner company, at the time one of only ten female CEO’s on the ASX. Shelley is Chair of the company’s Diversity and Inclusion Steering Committee and Gender Equity Working Group, RAP Champion, an active member of CME’s Safe and Respectful Behaviours Working Group, and mentors a number of young professionals both within and external to Mineral Resources.