Despite Covid-19 pandemic, mine sees increase in female staff on-site

DESPITE the Covid-19 pandemic this year, the Hidden Valley mine in Morobe has seen an increase in female staff on-site reaching a high of 15 per cent of its total workforce, according to the company.
Outgoing general-manager Erik Steinhofer and his successor Gary Davies said this while extending their best wishes to their employees, contracting parties and landowners for the 2020 Christmas season and New Year.
They said the increase included the appointment of Rachael Paru as the safety superintendent and the incoming appointment of Michelle Ososo in the human resource team next month.
“We are (also) in the process of celebrating a number of promotions at Hidden Valley mine and welcoming a number of new faces to the team,” Steinhofer said.
“We are pleased that this year, we have seen an increase in female staff on-site reaching a high of 15 per cent of our total workforce.
“At the beginning of the year, none of us could have imagined how the year would turn out, with the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic and the operational changes it has created at Hidden Valley.
“We have thanked our employees, contractors and local communities for their resilience and patience a number of times this year – and we do so once again at the close of 2020.
“We have faced so much this year including our site lockdown and the long period of the Covid-19 leave, which was hard for many of our employees and contractors.”
Steinhofer said the Covid-19 screening and entry point centre requirements, social distancing measures and introducing an extended roster was necessary to carry out their Covid-19 screening processes.