When Simone Botha was named one of the Minerals Council South Africa’s ten women in mining education and development heroes for 2025, those who work alongside her at Anglo American’s Kumba Iron Ore were not surprised.

What she has built – quietly, systematically, and with clear intention – is exactly the kind of change the industry has been talking about for years.

As process overseer at the modular plant, Botha leads a team of 66. In 2024 and 2025, she appointed two historically disadvantaged women into supervisory roles, coaching both through the transition into leadership with structured, hands-on mentorship.

Women now make up 50% of her operational team.

Creating same opportunities for others

“In this historically male-dominated industry, someone once saw my potential and gave me the opportunity to prove my worth. That investment changed my life and now drives me to create the same opportunities for others.

“Women have a critical role to play in shaping a sustainable mining sector, and as leaders we must intentionally invest in developing our teams, giving them the support and tools they need to grow and contribute to the industry’s future,” shares Botha.

Her approach to development is equally deliberate. After identifying a gap in operations-related external training, Botha realigned all 66 Individual Development Plans to address it – ensuring every team member had an actionable, development-focused plan submitted to human resource development to unlock external learning opportunities.

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The outcomes were concrete: 14 employees registered for Mining Qualification Authority Level 2 and 3 programmes; two women approved for Operations Management training; and two bursary applications submitted from her section alone.

Transforming leadership

She is also co-developing an iron ore-specific training programme with the University of Pretoria – a five-day course in Value Chain and Basic Metallurgy designed to upskill 30 employees in the Jig section – which will then be rolled out to other sections in the future.

One of the women Botha mentored has already received a Housekeeping Heroes award. Others are now accessing management training and bursary funding that might otherwise have passed them by.

Magdali Burger, section manager at Anglo American Kumba Iron Ore and the colleague who nominated Botha, says Botha is transforming how leadership, development, and diversity are approached in the mining processing space.

“Coaching plays a vital role in empowering women in mining by building the confidence, leadership capability and resilience required to succeed in traditionally male-dominated environments.

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