Forbes, who lives at Moranbah in central Queensland, joined Anglo after being inspired by female friends who worked in the mines at Blackwater, despite being accepted to go to university.

“When people say ‘I couldn’t do that, I couldn’t work underground’, it just makes me want to do it even more,” said Forbes, who wanted a hands-on career.

QRC chief executive Michael Roche said Forbes was an excellent ambassador for the resources sector and mentor and role model for other women working in her field.

“The breakfast and the awards have become pillars of QRC’s Women in Resources Action Plan, aimed at improving the attraction and retention of women in the resources sector in Queensland, and making young women aware of resources career opportunities is an important part of that,” he said.

“Over the next five to 10 years we have to find tens of thousands of people to support the expansion of our industry in Queensland, so it is vital that we encourage women, who are still significantly under-represented in our ranks, to enter and remain in our sector.”

Though female participation in the state had risen from about 8% to 15% since 2005-06, participation in areas where women were traditionally under-represented, such as operators, trades, engineers, geologists and senior management, was still just under 11%.

“While this means we have almost reached the 2020 target we set in 2006 to double to 12 per cent the proportion of women in ‘non-traditional’ roles, we will not rest on our laurels,” Roche said.

“We will have to continue to be innovative in our attraction and retention strategies to reach our new target of 20 per cent women by 2020 and find the skilled people we need.”