Gisborne woman Tegan Larkins breaking barriers in mining industry

Tegan Larkins left Gisborne with a vision of working in the fashion industry ... years later, after making her way up the ladder in the mining industry in Western Australia, she has a successful podcast called The Mining Mum and recruiting company Talent Mining and Minerals.

It is International Women’s Day 2025 this Saturday and the theme is ‘For ALL women and girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment’. The Gisborne Herald’s Kim Parkinson spoke to a Gisborne woman working in a male-dominated industry about the challenges she faces and how far things have come in terms of gender equality in the workplace.

Gisborne woman Tegan Larkins, creator of popular podcast The Mining Mum, knows all too well the challenges faced in making it in a male-dominated industry.

Larkins grew up in Gisborne where she attended Campion College. She has fond memories of her childhood spent in “such a beautiful place” and tries to get back regularly.

She has spent the last 11 years working in the mining industry in Western Australia where she made her way up the career ladder to become social value superintendent for BHP.

Her focus was on inclusion and diversity within the company and finding programmes to support females to get into the industry.

BHP is a multinational mining and metals public company with a large iron ore operation in Western Australia. The company has four processing hubs and five mines connected by more than 1000km of rail infrastructure, as well as port facilities in the state’s Pilbara region.

Larkins has come a long way since starting at the company as a gardener and traffic controller where it was normal to work 12-hour days.

She quickly upskilled and got machine and truck licences which meant she could apply for higher-paid roles.

Larkins has worked as a project manager, facilities supervisor and contracts co-ordinator at Port Hedland, a remote town of 15,000 on the north-western coast by the Indian Ocean.

Port Hedland is one of the largest iron ore loading ports in the world and the biggest in Australia.

Larkins’ entry to the mining industry was a dramatic pivot for a woman who had always planned to work in fashion.

She studied fashion at Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design in Auckland and worked for fashion brands like Karen Walker and Huffer before moving into wardrobe for film and television. She even did a stint in Los Angeles as an intern for a celebrity stylist.

Working in the mines was initially meant to be a way for her to earn good money and save up to return to LA.

“But as a 23-year-old making big money I got addicted to the money, travel, and freedom to do what I wanted, and I started a jewellery label where I was designing jewellery in Bali and selling it online.”

That all changed when she met her partner Tuku and became pregnant with their first child, Mila.

She was offered a role as project manager when she returned from maternity leave and decided to make the most of the opportunity.

Tegan Larkins - who comes from Gisborne and hosts the podcast The Mining Mum - with husband Tuku and children Bella and Mila at their home in Port Hedland in Western Australia.

“One thing I liked at BHP was the development. I started with no qualifications, but they invested in me and provided a lot of training and opportunities.”

From project manager and supervisor, she moved into contract management while accumulating multiple diplomas.

“There is a big push at the moment for women in the mining industry,” she says. “They are trying to meet targets for females who want to come into the industry and be developed into particular roles.”

In her early years, as one of few females in her team, she was always trying to prove herself.

“I am quite competitive, so saw it as a challenge to keep up with the boys. Supervising at a young age was hard. I was managing people who had been in the industry for much longer than me, so I had to earn their respect.

“I always tried to focus on their knowledge and promote my strengths in the team like organisation and scheduling, so that helped them to accept me.”

Larkins started The Mining Mum podcast in September 2024 after getting a lot of traction from posts on TikTok about her life as a working mum.

“I was always getting asked how to get a job and about what I did, so I decided to start interviewing other professionals on my podcast.”

She wanted to make it a free mentoring platform for people interested in joining or developing themselves within the mining industry.

Because Larkins was already giving advice to people interested in getting into mining, it felt like a natural progression to start her own recruitment business - Talent Mining and Minerals.

“I want to help people change their lives and have the opportunities I did by joining the industry.”

As a recruiter, she puts people forward for roles in the mining and contracting industries and also has companies contacting her to tell her about upcoming jobs.

Larkins says the mining industry has “come a long way” when it comes to women in leadership roles, but still has only around 20% women working in the entire industry in Australia.

“Some mining companies have set targets to support female participation, so there has been a big influx in recent years of women joining the industry.”

She recommends that people do their research before moving to Australia in the hope of working in mining.

“Work out what roles you would be interested in applying for and reach out to people you know who work in the industry. It takes time to set up bank accounts, transfer any licences, and get a tax number.

“It pays really well but it does come with sacrifice. It is not easy work. Most places are isolated with hot weather and it can be laborious if you are on the tools.

“[But] the industry has a lot of opportunity and it can change your life - like it did mine.”

Larkins offers free 15-minute career consultations through her company Talent Mining and Minerals. The Mining Mum podcast is available on Spotify and Apple.