As managing director of an aspiring WA sulphate of potash producer, Ms Paterson is one of a growing class of women to reach the upper echelons of the traditionally male-dominated resources sector, although their numbers remain few.
Ms Paterson said the emergence of ESG considerations meant investors expected to see women on a company’s board and in executive leadership roles.
“It is creating more opportunities for women in senior ranks because the investor market is measuring it and expecting it to happen,” she said.
“There’s a lot of evidence now that diverse companies perform better and investors want companies to perform better on a number of measures.”
Ms Paterson’s comments came after International Women’s Day on Tuesday, which seeks to create a world free from gender-based bias, stereotypes and discrimination. IWD took on special significance for the WA resources sector this year after reports by The West Australian that revealed the extent of sexual harassment, bullying and assault in the industry.
Ms Paterson, who has spent more than 20 years working across operational site-based roles and corporate office positions, said mining-camp life had been “rough and tough” when she started her career in the 90s.
“I was just devastated to see what is still occurring on site when at a corporate level, there is so much light put on the need for diversity and respect,” she said.
However the former underground mining engineer and investment analyst said she was pleased the reports had been written, an inquiry had been completed and companies were taking action.
“But there is a long way to go to really make our operational cultures friendly for everybody,” Ms Paterson said.
Despite the recent negative publicity, Ms Paterson was still overwhelmingly positive on her time in the sector and the opportunities it had afforded her.
“It’s an incredible industry to have an amazing career,” she said.
“The opportunities that I’ve had and created are just phenomenal. I couldn’t imagine them happening in any other industry in this State.”
She urged young women considering a career in mining to “absolutely go for it, make your own opportunities and have a really fulfilling career”.
At Trigg, Ms Paterson heads one of only a handful of WA companies looking to create a new export industry for Australia by tapping the hypersaline brines beneath the State’s remote salt lakes to produce sulphate of potash.
SOP is a high-value fertiliser used predominantly on chloride-sensitive crops such as fruit, vegetables, nuts, coffee and tea.
Ms Paterson said she had been attracted to SOP production because of its strong sustainability credentials over traditional hard rock mining.
Like other aspiring WA SOP producers, Trigg plans to harvest its product from naturally-occurring brine using solar evaporation.
The majority of the world’s production comes from the dirty, energy-intensive Mannheim process, which converts muriate of potash into SOP.
