Press release
Press release
Wood to deliver detailed design of Bannerman’s Etango uranium project
At Wood, we believe that being inclusive of diversity enables us to offer different skills, ideas, approaches and expertise to the business and our customers. By embracing the richness of contribution that women can bring to the workplace, we aim to enable everyone working at Wood to reach their maximum potential. It’s our goal to improve gender balance in our organisation with 40% female representation in senior leadership roles by 2030.
This International Women in Mining Day, we’re focusing on just some of the brilliant women in our Minerals & Metals who go above and beyond every single day to deliver for our global teams and clients. Let’s take a look at their stories.
Astrid Castillo
Astrid is an Application Support Manager based in our Santiago office in Chile. She has been with Wood for 36 years in our Minerals & Metals business, joining us as a civil mechanical engineer – having been the fourth female to graduate as an engineer from the University of Chile. At the time, the mining industry was dominated by men and Astrid had to fight through many barriers and discrimination to make her voice heard. Astrid’s determination and continuous drive to forge a path as a woman in the industry led her to lead several teams and pioneer the shift from hand drawing all the way from 2D to 3D intelligent design tools. always looking for innovative ways to work while keeping the client front of mind. Astrid’s leadership mantra is ‘raising a family, and as a family we all take care of each other’ and as such, she strives to create a great environment for all of her team to work, grow and develop.
Michelle van Rooyen
Michelle has been with Wood for three years and is based in our Vancouver office as Wood’s Global Battery Minerals Lead. She started her career in Johannesburg almost 20 years ago after graduating with a Bachelors degree in Chemical Engineering from University of Pretoria, working on hydrometallurgical flowsheet development projects across different commodities.
While working in the mining industry full-time, she completed her Master’s Degree and PhD in Engineering Management, specialising in technology and innovation management. Michelle’s passion for people and expertise in the battery minerals and process engineering space positioned her to effectively lead the largest team of process engineers at Wood in her last role in South Africa.
Now, as the Global Battery Minerals Lead for Wood, Michelle is focused on building Wood’s footprint and portfolio in the battery minerals market and driving capability and expertise across our global offices.
Outside of Wood, Michelle continues to be heavily involved in publishing valuable research papers and participates in conference organising committees – where she reviews and selects papers for presentations at events.
Gayle Bowness
As Operations Director for our Minerals & Metals business in Australia, Gayle has tenaciously grown into senior positions and is renowned for challenging the status quo and driving cultural change within our business.
During her time at Wood, Gayle has assembled and lead multi-disciplinary teams requiring strong leadership and managing complex client needs. She is passionate about building diverse and inclusive teams that allow everyone to grow, learn and be heard.
Her drive to challenge the status quo means that she often has to make challenging decisions while protecting Wood’s integrity, reputation and standards – and strike the balance between client and team management. Outside of her role, Gayle spent 6 years as Treasurer and 2 years as the Chair of Get Into Resources Inc – a volunteer position which focused on inspiring the next generation of talent in the resources industry.
Astrid, Gayle and Michelle are just three of the brilliant women who drive Wood’s Minerals & Metals business. Today, on International Women in Mining Day, we celebrate and recognise the enormous contribution that these women make every single day to our organisation, industry and society. Thank you.
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