A new committee launched within the Papua New Guinea (PNG) Chamber of Resources and Energy (CORE) will seek to improve gender representation across the sector.
The Women in Resources and Energy Committee (WIRE) was launched on July 14 in a ceremony at APEC Haus in Port Moresby.
Chair of the WIRE committee and country manager of New Porgera, Karo Maho, said the resources sector had continued to evolve over the past 50 years, but there were still significant barriers for women, particularly in operational, trade, and underground environments.
“Today marks more than just the formation of a new committee,” she said. “It signals a shared commitment to building a more inclusive, resilient, and future-ready resources sector for PNG.”
The committee will serve as a collaborative platform to identify persistent barriers, whether they are cultural, structural, or safety-related. It aims to promote practical, industry-driven solutions to these, for the benefit of the broader workforce as well as communities linked to the resources sector.
It also plans to advocate for policy changes. In particular, the WIRE committee plans to lobby law makers to remove the prohibition on women working underground.
Maho said the committee would work alongside existing initiatives by major miners and oil and gas producers operating in PNG, with the likes of ExxonMobil, Ok Tedi Mining, Newmont, New Porgera, K92 Mining, and Santos all creating meaningful programs to advance women across their workforces.
Subscribe to PNG Mining and receive the latest news on product announcements, industry developments, commodities and more.
