Newcrest Lihir recently achieved another milestone with the appointment of Elizabeth Tobung as a leading hand at its mine department. This makes her the first female Lihirian to move up into an operations supervisory role.
From Samo village on the Western side of Lihir, New Ireland Province, the mother of three has been working with the company for over 16 years.
She joined in 2001 as an operator driving haul trucks, excavators and com loaders, and has notched a wealth of experience in the field. In her new role, one of her responsibilities will be to provide support in leading and managing groups of heavy equipment operators within the mine operations.
In congratulating Elizabeth, Deputy Mine Manager Iso Ealedona said it was a well-deserved promotion and a milestone seeing hard working capable females like herself moving up in a traditionally male dominated work environment. He also further pledged the Mine Management team’s support in helping her to succeed in her role.
“We work in a diverse environment. This emphasises the messages behind Trupla Man Trupla Meri campaign, diversity and gender equality challenges that we face which we’ll continue to take on to make the changes,” he said.
Elizabeth thanked her colleagues and is looking forward to taking the new role head on.
Present also during this announcement was Newcrest’s Managing Director & CEO Sandeep Biswas, who had a morning pre-start meeting with the mine crew and congratulated Elizabeth on her achievement last Wednesday.
(Newcrest Managing Director & CEO, Sandeep Biswas, congratulating Elizabeth)