First Woman to Take Helm of the Mining Association of Canada
06/19/2013 - The Mining Association of Canada (MAC) announced that Zoë Yujnovich, president and CEO of Canada's largest iron ore producer, the Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC), has been elected as chair of MAC for a two-year term. She is the association's first female chair in its 78-year history.
Effective 19 June 2013, Ms. Yujnovich replaces Ian Pearce, former CEO of Xstrata Nickel, who served as chair from June 2012 until his resignation from Xstrata Nickel in May 2013.
"Our association has had increasing female representation on the MAC Board of Directors for many years, but Zoë's appointment to chair is an important milestone and signifies the growing leadership role of women in mining," said Pierre Gratton, MAC's president and CEO. "We would like to thank Ian for his leadership over the years as both Chair and a long-time Board member, and we welcome Zoë to her new role."
Ms. Yujnovich has been an active member of the MAC Board of Directors and Executive Committee since 2010 as first vice-chair. In this capacity, she helped guide the association's activities and supported the industry's progress in many areas.
"It is a privilege to be elected by my industry peers as chair of the Mining Association of Canada," said Ms. Yujnovich. "Given mining's importance to Canadians as a powerful driver of our economy and as a major employer, my focus as Chair will be on ensuring the industry can continue delivering these benefits to Canadians by improving the sector's competitiveness and maintaining its reputation for excellence in corporate responsibility. Part of how we do both is by maintaining and strengthening a focus on workplace diversity, which will also enable our sector to address our human resources challenges directly."
Ms. Yujnovich began her mining career in Australia with Rio Tinto (Comalco Smelting) in 1996 as a process & development engineer, and quickly moved up the ranks. Following positions of crew supervisor for Comalco and senior business analyst with Rio Tinto Procurement, she re-located to the United States where she held management positions at Quadrem and Kennecott Land from 2000 to 2004. Ms. Yujnovich returned to Australia to work as plant operations manager for the Rio Tinto Pilbara Iron Mine. From 2007 to 2008, she was selected to provide advisory support to the chief executive of Rio Tinto at the company's headquarters in London, England. She moved on to become president of Rio Tinto Brazil in 2008 until her appointment to IOC in 2009.
"Zoë's success in the industry is a testament of her talent, and also shines a light on the rewarding careers for women in the mining sector," said Mr. Gratton. "Her experience and expertise will serve her well as Chair of the national association representing one of the largest mining industries in the world."
Ms. Yujnovich holds an executive MBA from the University of Utah and a BEng (Hons) Materials Engineering from the University of Western Australia. Ms. Yujnovich is based in Montreal, Quebec, with her husband and their three children.
The Mining Association of Canada is the national organization for the Canadian mining industry. Its members account for most of Canada's production of base and precious metals, uranium, diamonds, metallurgical coal, mined oil sands and industrial minerals and are actively engaged in mineral exploration, mining, smelting, refining and semi-fabrication.
