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Despite the continued need for more women representation in male-dominated sectors, women are increasingly taking up leadership roles in Africa's mining and construction sectors, with a growing number of female CEOs signaling a shift in organizational culture. This was the message from a panel of female mining industry executives at African Mining Week 2025, who emphasized that while legislation has assisted in opening doors, women are demonstrating that their leadership is based on merit, with mentorship highlighted as equally important to help more women rise through the ranks.

Anjana Turner, Principal at U.S.-based business law firm Anjana Turner Law underscored the importance of building a sustainable talent pipeline. “We must create pathways for women to move into leadership roles. Women need to show up strong, not as followers, but as confident leaders who can contribute meaningfully at all levels of a company.” She added that greater female representation is needed at higher levels of executive decision-making and negotiation situations as it leads to more positive outcomes for businesses.

Emma Townshend, Executive for Corporate Affairs at leading South African producer of platinum group metals (PGMs) Impala Platinum and board member of Women in Platinum Group Metals reflected on her career in which we transitioned from a financial markets role into mining, saying she never felt her gender was a disadvantage. “I've been fortunate that my experiences and exposure meant being a female didn't feel like an obstacle. South Africa is quite progressive in terms of women representation through legislation, which has provided a platform for greater female representation,” she said.

Townshend also pointed out that gaining influence in the boardroom ultimately is not gender-specific but rather about knowing your subject and adding value.

Lili Nupen, Co-Founder and Director of South Africa-based law firm NSDV Law, where 70% of the legal team are women, recalled the challenge of being the only woman – and often the youngest – in male-dominated boardrooms, where she was frequently perceived as an outsider. She pointed out that “once your expertise is heard by the room, perceptions change.”

“Our approach at NSDV Law is that if you can demonstrate your expertise, you should not let gender be a barrier,” she noted.

She further explained that her firm's flat structure encourages all team members to build their own brands, speak up in boardroom discussions, and participate fully in decision-making.

Challenging stereotypes about women in leadership, Nupen acknowledged that women are often perceived as more emotional, while Townshend reframed this as a strength, noting that “there is a time and place for positive emotion in business – it's a leadership skill.”

“Women tend to be more introspective and aware of the impact of emotions, which can be healthy for organisational culture,” Townshend said.

The panelists agreed that creating an environment where diversity is celebrated is a business imperative. With more women now holding CEO positions in mining and construction, the focus must be on building the future pipeline of female leaders.

Townshend and Turned both emphasised mentorship as equally important to that of legislative compliance in ensuring that woman are included in leadership roles.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Energy Capital & Power.

About African Mining Week:
Organized by Energy Capital & Power, African Mining Week serves as a premier platform for exploring the full spectrum of mining opportunities across Africa. The event was held alongside the African Energy Week: Invest in African Energies 2025 conference from October 1-3 in Cape Town. Sponsors, exhibitors and delegates can learn more by contacting sales@energycapitalpower.com.

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South Africa's dominant role in the platinum group metals (PGMs) sector, producing 80% of the world's platinum, gives the country significant strategic influence over the global market, a panel discussion featuring PGM industry players highlighted during African Mining Week 2025. The panel discussion further emphasized the need to leverage this drive greater value addition through downstream beneficiation and advanced manufacturing to ensure that South Africa captures more of the economic and developmental benefits linked to its PGM mineral wealth.

During the discussion, Liberty Chipise, Research and Development Manager at MetSop, highlighted the important role of innovation in mineral processing. He noted that high energy costs and complex ore bodies are driving up operational expenses, making it essential to deploy mineralogy-driven technologies that extract maximum value from tailings and employ more effective mineral processing reagents that have a lower carbon footprint.

Fahmida Smith, Principal Market Development at Valterra Platinum, emphasised the company's commitment to reinvestment, innovation and socio-economic development. Since 2024, Smith said Valterra has reinvested R80 billion in capital, R4 billion in social investment, and R132 billion in local procurement leveraging South Africa's position as the custodian of 80% of the world's PGM reserves.

Smith emphasised the importance of creating multiple market development opportunities across the full PGM basket to stimulate demand for the metals that Valterra produces, noting its role in engaging government on supportive frameworks that allow for the uptake of PGM-containing products and technologies.

Vinay Somera, Chief Executive Officer of Isondo Precious Metals, stressed the urgency for South Africa to seize green hydrogen economy opportunities.

“We have the opportunity to add value to our PGMs through the hydrogen economy now, but it won't last forever,” he said.

By building South Africa's first large-scale industrial facility to produce PGM catalysts and membrane electrode assemblies for fuel cells and electrolysers, Isondo is doing its part in positioning the country to move PGMs further up the value chain through advanced manufacturing and in doing so maximise the value addition for the country. “This gives South Africa a seat in the global hydrogen industry that we never had before,” Somera said, noting that it also anchors the country as a competitive manufacturing hub.

Somera also stated that South Africa's PGM sector success in future will be measured by its ability to shift from being a price taker to becoming a price maker, while Chipise believed the country's success could lie in its value-addition, and recycling of PGMs in a circular economy, while Smith believed success could be measured by the creation of self-sustaining, inclusive communities around PGMs.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Energy Capital & Power.

About Energy Capital & Power:
Organized by Energy Capital & Power, African Mining Week serves as a premier platform for exploring the full spectrum of mining opportunities across Africa. The event was held alongside the African Energy Week: Invest in African Energies 2025 conference from October 1-3 in Cape Town. Sponsors, exhibitors and delegates can learn more by contacting sales@energycapitalpower.com.

Africa's oil and gas sector could be on the brink of a new exploration renaissance, driven by advances in seismic imaging, frontier data sets and faster permitting, industry leaders said at Africa Energy Week (AEW): Invest in African Energies 2025 in Cape Town on Wednesday.

According to Emmanuelle Garinet, VP of Exploration Africa at TotalEnergies, Africa's frontier basins hold significant volumes. She pointed to Namibia as an example of how seismic and subsurface data can de-risk projects: “When we decided to drill the Venus well, it was frontier, but we had a probability of success of more than 50% because of the seismic data and direct hydrocarbon indicators.”

In the Republic of Congo, TotalEnergies' exploration permitting process is moving at a markedly faster pace. “We got our permit in less than six months and are preparing for drilling by the end of the year,” Garinet said. By contrast, South Africa's permitting system has faced delays due to legal challenges, a problem she described as “unacceptable” given limited budgets for global exploration.

Chevron's CEO, Gavin Lewis, emphasized the critical role of comprehensive subsurface datasets in Africa. “Before you can do any AI-driven workflows, you need a dataset that illuminates what the subsurface looks like,” he said. “What Africa has lost is the ability to sponsor multi-client subsurface datasets. The only basin that allows for large, regional high-quality datasets is the Gulf of America, which has allowed that basin to reinvent itself multiple times.”

VP of Exploration for bp, Bryan Ritchie, highlighted survey work in Egypt's Nile Delta, where the company completed the first deepwater ocean-bottom node seismic survey over the Atoll field and noted that the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company plans to expand multi-client data coverage across a larger area of the delta. ‘We're seeing new opportunities for these images,” he said.

Beyond exploration, Woodside Energy's VP of Exploration, Terry Gebhardt, said geoscience and subsurface data are also key to carbon capture and storage projects, as well as “maximizing efficacy and recovery” in existing fields.

The panel discussion, sponsored by EnerGeo Alliance, also underlined the broader scale of investment in Africa's oil and gas sector. Nikki Martin, President and CEO of EnerGeo Alliance, said African oil and gas capital expenditure is expected to rise to $54 billion by 2030, following a $6 billion surge in exploration spending in 2024.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Energy Chamber.