For Petya Gutzmer, founder and managing director of ERZLABOR Advanced Solutions GmbH, the extraction of mineral resources is more than her line of work. It is a concept that has been fortified with dedication, respect and trust, that ultimately culminated in a vision: the ability to make a small contribution to the lives of millions of people, every day.
Q.: The mining-metallurgical sector is a particularly demanding professional area with a profile that supports modern technological trends yet, identified more by its conservative structure in terms of administration and operations. How/why did you choose this sector as a career path?
Petya Gutzmer: I think I remember as a student finding the interdisciplinary approach of economic geology and its international significance exciting. Nowadays, its purpose - in our industry we don't need to look for it, it's given to us because mining is important to any technological development. The ability to find and extract mineral resources means that we can make a small contribution to the lives of millions of people, every day.
I have dedicated my professional life to a field called automated mineralogy. The company ERZLABOR, which I founded with two colleagues in 2017, serves customers at the interface between mineral processing, metallurgy, environmental geology, recycling and mineralogy. Interdisciplinarity still fascinates me. And the opportunity to contribute to the efficient extraction of mineral raw materials motivates me anew every day.
Q.: Tell us a little about your experience as a professional in the mining sector. What challenge(s) have you encountered, hitherto, in your work environment?
Petya Gutzmer: The biggest challenge, which is also a great opportunity, is the industry's conservative attitude. Our industry is not unpredictable, and I personally like that. Partners, clients, and colleagues are very reliable and want to be honestly convinced, for example to test a new product. Criticism is often constructive and helpful.
According to my experience, decisions often take a long time, but important decisions are rarely, if ever, reversed. The second biggest challenge is interdisciplinarity. It makes communication and understanding between disciplines, e.g. geology and mineral processing, difficult. Even if the goal is the same, the terminology is very different, and this often means disagreements and frustration because the important message about achieving the common goal does not reach the other person. Whether you like it or not, sooner or later you will learn 1-2 more technical languages. It offers a great opportunity to expand your professional horizons.
The biggest challenge of the Sector, which is also a great opportunity, is its conservative attitude.
Q.: What we acknowledge and welcome in recent years, is an attempt of the mining industry to set up a direct and meaningful communication channel with the modern societies that are more aware of the sector's pros and cons. In this context, albeit at a gradual pace, women are entrusted with executive level jobs. What are your thoughts about inclusion and diversity in the mining environment?
Petya Gutzmer: I would like to introduce two main perspectives that seem very important to me in this context. Firstly, I see mining as a STEM discipline. Efforts are being made around the world to promote this group of disciplines and generally make them more attractive to younger generations. The demand for natural resources is increasing, while the availability of skilled labor is decreasing. It is the industry's most important task to attract available skilled workers inclusively, which naturally means promoting diversity.
I increasingly have the impression that this realization has also reached the mining sector. Secondly, unlike other careers, the mining industry is one of the safest places to work in the long run. By promoting inclusion and diversity, the sector becomes not only an attractive employer for skilled workers, but also for a wide range of qualified people, be it in terms of nationality, gender, or religion. Not many industries have this opportunity, and we must seize it.
By promoting inclusion and diversity, the sector becomes not only an attractive employer for skilled workers, but also for a wide range of qualified people, be it in terms of nationality, gender, or religion.
Q.: What are the «critical raw materials» for a woman in this sector to maintain the difficult but essential work-life balance?
Petya Gutzmer: Network, discipline and trust.
SHORT BIO
Petya Gutzmer, Dr. rer. nat., born 1982 in Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria. She graduated with a Master of Science in Economic Geology from the Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg in 2012 and completed her doctorate in geoscience at the University of Tübingen in 2020. From 2012 to 2023, she worked as a researcher and project coordinator for the Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology (HZDR). She is also a founder and managing director of ERZLABOR Advanced Solutions GmbH, a service provider of high-level materials characterization, sample preparation and expert consulting services to the global raw materials industry that was founded in 2017.
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