Daisy Ambach named 2023 Exceptional Young Women in Qld Resources
The winner of the 2023 Exceptional Young Women in Queensland Resources has detailed why young people are critical to the future of the resources sector.
Rockhampton
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Growing up in Belgium, Daisy Ambach didn’t have any connections to the resources or mining industry as a child.
But fast forward to 2023 and she is encouraging more young people, and women, to be part of the industry's ‘bright’ future.
In March Ms Ambach, 28, was named the 2023 Exceptional Young Women in Queensland Resources, an initiative that recognises the work and achievements of women in the resources sector.
Women currently make up a record 22 per cent of Queensland’s resources workforce, a sector which has been largely male dominated for decades.
“Women make up half of society and so we should be reflected by half at least in industry and there’s a lot of research out there showing that more diverse and inclusive workplaces are more innovative and there’s more collaboration, you have a wider talent pool,” she said.
“Businesses that have more gender diversity and inclusion also perform better and have more profit on average...it also allows more women to have successful careers and be independent which is important.”
Now based in Brisbane Ms Ambach, a Senior Project Engineer with Glencore Metals Queensland’s Zinc Global Capital Studies, began her journey in resources after Bachelor of Engineering, majoring in Chemical and Environmental Engineering.
From there she went on to work on oil and gas projects in Australia and the United Kingdom, before taking on a role as an environmental engineer in Mount Isa.
She visited Rockhampton for the first time on Thursday for the Bowen Basin Mining Club Luncheon.
“There wasn’t any mining in my family but we lived very close to a big national park and I always had this really strong love for the environment and I really liked maths and science at school,” she said.
“I learned (at University) a lot about how the world needs all these new minerals and we need to start mining more of them to meet the targets of the Paris agreement.
“It’s important to balance the mining sector with the environment and we need to find a way as a society to make that more sustainable, so rather than being on the outside I wanted to be part of the solution.”
She said the mining industry was only going to keep growing and encouraging more young people, and women, to the mining sector was important for meeting renewables targets in the future.
“It’s an industry that’s only going to keep growing over the next few decades, particularly as we move to a low emissions future,” she said.
“We need to mine two times more zinc and copper and then four times more of other battery minerals to move towards the net zero future, so the mining industry is just going to keep on going and we need bums on seats in order for that to happen and to meet all the targets that came out of the Paris agreement.
“I read somewhere between now and the end of this decade that we need to start mining seven times more than we have been already to meet that demand for the critical minerals, so the mining sector is a really, really important part of the transition and I think it’s important for people to understand that we need to mine more to be where we want to be.
“We need young people to be part of the solution and sit in the driver’s seat and take us in the right direction.”
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