Polymetal International plc (LON:POLY) has announced that Maria Lodkina, Tania Tchedaeva and Vasilina Tarabarova have been included in the 2020 edition of “100 Global Inspirational Women in Mining”, compiled by Women in Mining.
“We are proud to see our colleagues recognised for their outstanding achievements. Polymetal fosters a culture of workplace diversity and engagement and strives to ensure that women have equal opportunities to excel”, said Vitaly Nesis, Group CEO of Polymetal. “We hope our female colleagues will inspire more talented women in Russia and Kazakhstan to choose careers in mining”.
The 100 women featured in the list were selected due to their outstanding contribution towards a stronger, safer and more sustainable mining industry. This includes making positive and impactful changes, advocacy and a desire to empower others, perseverance in the face of adversity, and an ability to find solutions to challenges.
Maria Lodkina, Director, Financial Control & Corporate Reporting, leads a wide range of responsibilities related to the Group’s strategic reporting, finance, executive remuneration, communication with the Board’s committees, as well as various corporate optimisation projects. Maria is also a founder of the Russian Women in Mining association; she demonstrates leadership and offers proactive advocacy to those working in the mining industry and beyond.
Tania Tchedaeva, Director of Corporate Governance & Company Secretary, is one of the few Russian-speaking Chartered Company Secretaries in the UK (present – Fellow of ICSA: The Governance Institute). She joined Polymetal in 2011 and had a key role in preparing the Company for its IPO, which included setting up, implementing and supervising corporate governance in line with international best practice. Currently, she is focused on maintaining and improving Corporate Governance standards at Polymetal which are recognised among the best in the industry. She participates in international events, often being the only female speaker, sharing our Company’s ethos of stakeholder engagement, strong governance and diversity.
Vasilina Tarabarova is a Managing Director at Svetloye gold mine, which is one of the most challenging geographies in Polymetal’s portfolio. Vasilina is in charge of the open-pit mine and the heap leaching operation in a location that is only accessible either by a winter road, or by helicopter between May and November. She is truly an exceptional industry expert and an inspiration to women interested in mining in Russia and further afield.
This is the second time Polymetal’s nominees have been included in the list. Back in 2018, Daria Goncharova (Chief Sustainability Officer), Tracey Kerr (Independent Non-Executive Director) and Christine Coignard (former Independent Non-Executive Director) were recognised among the inspirational Women in Mining. Also, earlier in 2020, Polymetal took the 1st place among metals and mining companies in a gender equality rating published by Forbes Women, being rated 12th of the 150 longlisted Russian companies.
The Company continuously invests in diversity and equal opportunities for all current and potential employees. Polymetal International recruits people solely on merit, eliminating any discrimination on the grounds of race, skin colour, gender, religion, political opinions, nationality or social origin. In particular, we aim to create the conditions for the greater inclusion of women within our workforce and leadership. As of today, 21% of total Polymetal headcount and 48% of highly-qualified employees are women. We aim to increase this number by creating opportunities through recently established Women in Mining Russia association.
