Thabile Makgala
VP, Minerals RioTinto
Inspirational Women in Mining and Harvard Business School alumni. Thabile Makgala currently serves as the Vice President for Minerals at Rio Tinto. Before joining Rio Tinto, she served with commensurate success at Implats as a Mining Executive. Thabile has over 20 years experience operating in the gold, coal and platinum sectors across both operations and technical services. Thabile was recognised by the South African Mail and Guardian as the Mining Women of the Year in 2021 and acknowledged as the Mining Modernisation Hero by the Minerals Council of South Africa in 2022.
Thabile advocates for greater equity in the mining sector, earning commendation as one of the Top 100 Inspirational Women in Mining by WimUK. Additionally, she served as the Chairperson for Women in Mining South Africa, leading the way for transformative change within the industry.
2025 Agenda Sessions
Workshop 4 – Prioritising health and safety
Mining and Zero harm: Achieving the goal
The main goal of the workshop is to stimulate an open discussion about the challenges the mining industry is facing related to health and safety; how they can maintain a right to operate and attract further investment within this context; how to drive improvement; and how new thinking and new technologies can help to sustainably reduce the number, frequency and severity of accidents in mines across Africa.
The session will open with a panel discussion that will discuss how mining operations are evolving, how this has augmented risk, as well as the challenges and opportunities that companies have in improving their health and safety systems and practices. This will be followed by roundtable discussions where participants will delve more deeply into specific challenges that miners are facing, with a focus on pragmatic solutions:
•Effectively managing safety during M&A
•Managing and positively influencing contractors, sub-contractors and value chain partners (artisanal & small-scale miners)
•Technology and AI are seen as the silver bullet for improve safety performance, but what actually works and what data and monitoring strategies and frameworks are necessary to introduce new tech/AI effectively
• Engaging and building capabilities of employees; providing a safe working environment for all demographics
•Cultivating the right cultural context for safety
Tuesday 04 February 13:00 - 14:30 CTICC2
Interactive Workshops
Mining and Zero harm: Achieving the goal
The main goal of the workshop is to stimulate an open discussion about the challenges the mining industry is facing related to health and safety; how they can maintain a right to operate and attract further investment within this context; how to drive improvement; and how new thinking and new technologies can help to sustainably reduce the number, frequency and severity of accidents in mines across Africa.
The session will open with a panel discussion that will discuss how mining operations are evolving, how this has augmented risk, as well as the challenges and opportunities that companies have in improving their health and safety systems and practices. This will be followed by roundtable discussions where participants will delve more deeply into specific challenges that miners are facing, with a focus on pragmatic solutions:
•Effectively managing safety during M&A
•Managing and positively influencing contractors, sub-contractors and value chain partners (artisanal & small-scale miners)
•Technology and AI are seen as the silver bullet for improve safety performance, but what actually works and what data and monitoring strategies and frameworks are necessary to introduce new tech/AI effectively
• Engaging and building capabilities of employees; providing a safe working environment for all demographics
•Cultivating the right cultural context for safety
-min.png?ext=.png)
_1.png?ext=.png){kind=logo}
_mi25-weblogo.png?ext=.png)
_mi25-weblogo.png?ext=.png)
