45. Career and Family in Exploration - the Benefits of Balance for the Industry

How can we balance the demands of careers in exploration with family life? How has the industry at large dealt with this in the past versus how companies handle it today? Filling the expected gaps in the exploration and mining workforce requires us to look internally at how we support employees to start families, care for parents or manage other personal circumstances.  Communication with our managers, colleagues, spouses, and families are all equally important.  Managing it collaboratively and with flexibility can make the difference, determining who stays and who leaves the industry. 

Anne Thompson introduces the episode with some stories from her own early career as a field exploration geologist and while starting a family in the late 1980s.  Anne’s early work in Utah, where she took her young daughter into the field was recently featured by the Utah Geological Survey.

Next, a husband-and-wife pair, Duncan and Catherine Proctor, discuss their own career paths and how they changed when they started a family. They tell the listeners how they balance their careers and their family and make sure both can be fulfilling for them. They also discuss the importance of being versatile when circumstances inevitably change in both their personal and professional lives.
Find out more about their story at  ndp40 .

Barbara Romero, Superintendent Exploration at BHP in Santiago, then discusses the challenges and opportunities of being a single mother in a job that requires significant travel. She talks about her experiences working for a major company raising a young daughter, from her first time away from home when her daughter was 6 months old to what life with her daughter is like now in a modern, post-pandemic world where flexible work schedules are the norm. She also discusses her challenges and her goals for the future.

Duncan, Catherine, and Barbara all discuss how they stay connected to their families while they are away, and give the listeners advice on how they can advocate for themselves in the workplace. 

Tune in to get some stories and words of wisdom from these fantastic guests! Next episode we will switch gears and learn about the environmental impacts of exploration with host Anne Thompson.  

Theme music is Confluence by Eastwinds .

 

Come join us in Brisbane, Australia for SEG 2025, September 26-29th.  This will be a dynamic conference with cutting edge science, new discoveries, technology and more.  Opportunities for networking and learning include several workshops and field trips before and after the event, relaxed social events and of course the conference itself.  See you there!