BHP awarded for highest female participation in Chilean mining

BHP has been recognised for the second consecutive year as the mining company with the highest female workforce participation in Chile, reflecting sustained cultural transformation and measurable improvements in performance, engagement and workforce inclusion. 

The mining industry in Chile has historically faced challenges in achieving gender balance, driven by its traditionally male-dominated workforce, structural barriers to women’s participation and limited access for women to operational roles. As the industry evolves to meet future workforce and productivity demands, attracting and retaining diverse talent has become increasingly critical. In response, BHP has progressed a long‑term strategy in Chile to transform organisational culture, modernise work practices and create inclusive environments that enable more people to enter, remain and progress in mining. 

While gender balance has been an important area of focus, BHP’s inclusion agenda in Chile is deliberately broader. We have been working to increase participation and inclusion for people with disability, Indigenous peoples and LGBTQ+ employees, recognising that a diverse workforce strengthens operational resilience, community connection and organisational performance. This holistic approach reflects an understanding that inclusion is most effective when multiple dimensions of diversity are addressed together. 

In November 2025, BHP was recognised at the annual Women in Mining Chile (WIM Chile) dinner as the ‘Mining Company with the Highest Female Participation’ for the second year in a row. The recognition was awarded during the third International Women in Mining Chile Congress, where BHP shared the outcomes of our diversity and inclusion strategy. BHP’s Chilean workforce reached 46 per cent female participation, the highest level across the country’s mining sector.  

BHP’s commitment to inclusion has also been recognised beyond gender balance. In Chile, BHP achieved our third consecutive Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Equidad Category A certification for our commitment to LGBTQ+ inclusion and was awarded the ‘Best Place to Work’ seal by the HRC. In addition, BHP was recognised by Chile’s Ministry of Mining through the ‘Mining is Pride’ initiative for our leadership in inclusion, including the contribution of the Jasper employee network. Together, these recognitions reflect consistent progress in creating safe, respectful and inclusive workplaces that support inclusion across multiple dimensions of diversity.   

Key elements of BHP’s approach include: 

• flexible and modern work models designed to support a broader range of life stages, capabilities and personal circumstances 
• redesign of roles, workplaces and systems to remove barriers to participation for women, people with disability and other under-represented groups 
• leadership accountability for inclusive behaviours and representation outcomes 
• targeted development and talent pathways to build a sustainable pipeline diverse future leaders 

The cultural transformation underway in Chile has delivered tangible outcomes for both people and performance, underpinned by continued maturity in the BHP Operating System (BOS). This has enabled Chile to achieve BHP benchmark performance in several BOS practices and to reach and sustain employee engagement levels in the top 10 per cent of global market comparators. 

BHP’s recognition reflects more than workforce representation. It highlights how inclusive culture, accessible work design and diverse talent contribute directly to operational reliability, workforce wellbeing and long-term value creation.