Leadership is in her DNA

From head girl of her secondary school, to senior resource geologist for Vedanta’s southern African operations and exploration projects, Wony Diergaardt shows pure determination in any setting in which life places her.
ELIZABETH JOSEPH
Elizabeth Joseph

Diergaardt was born in Lüderitz and raised in Windhoek. She completed her grade 12 at Jan Möhr Secondary School, and obtained an undergraduate and honours degrees from Rhodes University in the Eastern Cape after receiving bursaries from Petrofund and Namdeb for each respectively.

Diergaardt then completed her honours in Geology. The year was 2008 and the world was hit with a global recession. Namdeb did not hire any graduates.

“During my studies, I used to work at Navachab Gold Mine in Karibib during the holidays, and they offered me the role of on-mine exploration geologist, reporting the evaluation geologist. In 2012, I received an offer from Skorpion Zinc in Rosh Pinah and started working there as an exploration geologist. I am still working at Skorpion Zinc and have worked my way up the ranks since 2012,” she says.

Among her many achievements, Diergaardt completed her post graduate diploma in Engineering (GDE) at Wits University in 2012 and she is currently pursuing her Master’s in Mineral Resource Management through the University of the Free State.

Her job entails ensuring that all the exploration data, geological and resource models, estimation procedures, and reporting, are generated and compiled accurately and to international reporting standards.

She frequently reviews projects and assists with the evaluation of prospective projects. “I currently report on seven different projects, each with their own unique deposit style and each in a different stage of development,” Diergaardt added.

Most of her day is spent in communications, wheth