An African woman can make her mark in South Africa’s historically male-dominated mining industry.

That’s what mining magnate Daphne Mashile-Nkosi said last week in Geneva when she made her acceptance speech after winning CEO of the Year at the African CEO Forum, according to a report in DestinyConnect.

Known to many as the “iron lady” of South Africa’s male-dominated mining industry, Mashile-Nkosi was among the African business leaders nominated for African CEO of the Year by their peers. The criteria for nomination: commitment to and results in promoting Africa’s private sector; strengthening regional integration; developing intra-African exchanges; and social and environmental responsibility.

“The mining industry has not been an easy road, especially for a black woman,” Mashile-Nkosi told Mining Weekly. “But I have persevered and succeeded in surmounting the many obstacles that have been placed in my path.”

Mashile-Nkosi is executive chairwoman of the Kalagadi Manganese sinter plant in Hotazel, Northern Cape. It’s the largest plant of its kind in the world, according to the report.

Sintering is a method of creating objects from powders. In most sintering processes, the powdered material is held in a mold and then heated, fusing the particles together and creating one solid piece.

Kalagadi is a joint venture between Mashile-Nkosi’s business, Kalahari Resources; mining giant ArcelorMittal; and state-owned lender Industrial Development Corporation (IDC). The joint venture created more than 3,000 jobs in the poverty-stricken Northern Cape, according to DestinyConnect.

Kalahari Resources invested more than 1.3 billion rand ($122 million) in the venture, while ArcelorMittal put up more than $430 million. The IDC, with a 10-percent stake in the business, invested 100 million rand ($9.4 million), according to a September 2012 City Press online report.

A dispute between majority-shareholders Kalahari Resources and ArcelorMittal led to a lawsuit. Kalahari won, forcing ArcelorMittal to honor its obligations in the shareholders agreement to pay R241,3 million rand towards the joint venture Kalagadi Manganese.

When reflecting on her own leadership qualities, Mashile-Nkosi rates resilience, self-motivation, tenacity, courageousness, vision and patience as her strengths and says the ultimate achievement in her life will be the completion of a new smelter plant.

Born in Pilgrims Rest, Mashile-Nkosi became a political activist, and in 2001 ventured into the manganese mining industry with her husband, Stanley Nkosi. Mashile-Nkosi is a trustee and the chairwoman of the Women’s Development Bank Trust and chairwoman of the Women’s Development Bank Investments Holdings.

She was been nominated to study development economics in Nagoya, Japan in 1993 by the Women’s Development Bank. She is on the board of directorships of companies including Temoso Technologies Ltd., Metmar Ltd., and Bhakazi Banalima Investments.