Mining Investment Asia highlights South East Asian mining and gender diversity issues

 - Mining Investment Asia highlights South East Asian mining and gender diversity issues at global mining platform-

Mining Investment Asia, South East Asia’s largest mining investment conference, was successfully held in Marina Bay Sands, Singapore from 28 – 31 March, bringing together more than 300 global and regional investors, miners and service providers for networking and business partnerships.

South East Asian Focus

At the conference, with more than 60% of attendees based within South East Asia, mining issues from this region were at the forefront of discussions. Key regional players clarified misconceptions and provided first hand insights into current issues such as mine closures in the Philippines, Freeport-McMoRan disputes with the Indonesian government as well as coal and nickel policies in Indonesia.

Besides the South East Asian centric focus, attending investors and analysts also shared their insights on global commodity trends and investor outlook. On a wider pan Asia Pacific perspective, the Mongolian, Indian and Australia mining industries were also in the spotlight with presentations by various governmental representatives from these countries. For Mongolia, Ambassador of Mongolia to Singapore HE Tumur Lkhagvador presented on opportunities in the Mongolian mining sector and chaired a roundtable discussion to answer questions from fellow attendees on the Mongolian mining industry.

Asia’s Inaugural ‘Women in Mining Day’

‘Women in Mining Day’ was launched on 28 March as part of the Mining Investment Asia to relook at the issue of gender diversity in the mining industry, especially within the Asia Pacific region. A macro view on this issue, in light of the 2016 announcement by BHP Billiton for 50% female workforce by 2025, was shared by Ms Yvonne Tan, HR Business Partner at BHP Billiton (Singapore) and Chairperson of the Diversity Committee at Women in Mining and Resources (WIMAR) Singapore.

Initiatives to improve the role of women in mining were also shared by speakers from the Philippines, Australia and China at panel discussions and presentations. With an audience of 50% men, ‘Women in Mining Day’ underlined the importance of close cooperation between both genders for long term progress on the issue of gender diversity.

Mining Investment Asia team would like to extend our sincere thanks to the International Women in Mining (IWIM) and Women in Mining organisations from Singapore, Mongolia, Philippines and British Columbia, Canada for their support in making this inaugural ‘Women in Mining Day’ a success.

Global Profile of Attendees

Mining Investment Asia seeks to attract global mining and investment players to South East Asia, in particular Singapore, and this is evident from the diverse profile of attendees seeking new business opportunities here. Besides Asia, exhibitors and representatives from the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Latin and North America were also present at Mining Investment Asia to raise awareness about new exciting business opportunities in their home countries and seek fresh capital through this event.

Background Information on Mining Investment Asia

Mining Investment Asia is a premier global mining event where developers, explorers & miners showcase projects to investors from around the world and mining technology, equipment and services companies exhibit their solutions, create demand and launch new products.

This is part of the Mining Investment Series which has been organised by Spire Events annually in Singapore since 2015. This series has expanded beyond Asia and was successfully launched in Nigeria, Panama, Oman and Botswana with new upcoming conferences to be held in Germany, China, Canada and Argentina. More details on the various Mining Investment Conferences can be found at www.spire-events.com.