About us

Diamonds in the Rough is a project initiated by Kari Lentowicz and Bruce Coley in an effort to raise the profile of women in industry and in non-traditional roles through mine rescue. Our goal is to foster the development of woman in mine rescue team to advance and retain the skill level necessary to compete and work in what is traditionally a male-dominated environment.

This project started out in 2007 as a far-off dream. Would we ever be able to send a women’s team to a competition even at the provincial level? Would we ever have enough women in these roles to do it? At the time, there were only a handful of mine rescue members on our site that were women. By 2009, there was enough for a team and slightly more. Unfortunately, schedules didn’t permit the women’s team to become a reality for competition.

Over the years, the development of women in emergency response and mine rescue were always a topic of conversation. As a competitor, Kari Lentowicz was often the only woman in the underground portion of the provincial competitions. In her last year of competing, she was one of three. At the 2016 International Mines Rescue Competition, 27 teams from across the world came to Sudbury, Canada to display their skills in emergency response. Out of the ~189 competitors only five were women; that’s less than 3%. Kari and Bruce knew that this must not continue to be a representative ratio of women in industry or in the mine emergency response program.

After further discussions at Western Regional Mine Rescue Competition in Fernie, BC Canada, further interest by a competing woman and her senior management team, sparked the drive to make this a reality. Since September 2017, Bruce and Kari have identified multiple mine rescue certified women in Canada that are interested in dedicating the efforts to raising the profile of women in these roles. Eight of these women are dedicated to compete at an international level in the 2018 International Mines Rescue Competition in Russia. These women are strong, resilient individuals from a variety of backgrounds and employers.

Diamonds in the Rough Emergency Rescue Organization, Inc. was established in 2018. While the initial activities are to profile the organization on an international stage, the long term goals of the non-profit are to continue to mentor, train, and provide opportunities to women and girls in non-traditional gender roles. This will range from emergency response basic training, highlighting non-traditional roles to youth in education systems, and opportunities for women to compete locally, provincially, nationally and internationally. These opportunities will not only increase capacity in the field, but also to build the confidence of women in these roles and overall diversity in industry.

The culture in industry – though it has changed significantly – needs to continue to change to promote the advantages of increased diversity, allow women to feel secure in their positions, and allow minorities to pursue a sustained career path in the industry. Our efforts to increase the profile of women in mining can’t take effect unless we have the support of everyone in our community.