FEMALE MINERS – (From left to right) Anna Mwakasakafyuka, Felista Kitalonja and Habiba Aboubakar pose in front of some of the heavy equipment that they operate at ABG’s Bulyanhulu gold mine.
Dar es Salaam
THE number of women working in Tanzania’s fast-growing mining industry is on the rise, with African Barrick Gold (ABG), the leading gold producer in the country, employing more women in engineering, technical fields and other areas.
As Tanzania joins the rest of the world today to mark the International Women’s Dar, women have slowly carved out roles for themselves in male-dominated mining sector.
At ABG’s four gold-producing mines in Tanzania – Bulyanhulu, North Mara, Tulawaka and Buzwagi – women miners are showing they have the skills, the know-how and the technical ability to play a major role in mining, just like their male counterparts.
Female workers at ABG’s mines are increasingly debunking the falsely-held belief in some quarters that the mining industry is no place for women.
Bulyanhulu gold mine (BGML) in Kahama district, Shinyanga region, the country’s biggest underground mine, has employed women in various technical positions, erstwhile regarded as the preserve for men.
BGML recently appointed Felista Kitalonja as a driver of the longest semi-trailer commonly known as “Low Bed”, which is used to transport heavy mining equipment like excavators and bulldozers at the mine site.
Felista was hired as a driver under the mine’s Earthwork section in the Engineering Department, where dozens of men have previously failed to drive the heavy equipment under her command.
Bulyanhulu’s Earthwork Foreman, William Aloyce, said being the only woman who applied for the job out of 80 people, Felista showed the best capability than all the job contestants during the interview.
Felista brings the number of women operators of heavy equipment at BGML’s engineering section to three. Other female pioneers at the mine are Habiba Aboubakar and Anna Mwakasakafyuka, who also operate heavy equipment like loaders and compactors.
Most of the jobs at the Earthwork section are regarded as men’s jobs, but the women have proved the notion wrong and are even better at operating the heavy equipment then their male counterparts.
Aloyce urged other women to take up the challenge and regard BGML’s female miners as good examples or role models of what they can achieve if they believe in themselves and adopt the spirit to dare and believe in themselves.
Commenting on her achievement, Felista said she was grateful for being selected for the job, which allowed her to show her capability.
She said she was the only female who studied the operation of heavy equipment in the entire class of 2011 at the Vocational Education and Training Authority (VETA) College in Mwanza.