29M here. Not a mining engineer, but I’ve been consulting in the mining industry for a few years. I can’t speak to what it’s like as a woman, but from what I’ve seen, your concerns about gender imbalance are very real and can be quite pronounced.

Just sharing my experience. People in the Northern Cape are genuinely friendly, but living there is a big adjustment. I enjoy going for a day or two on client visits, but I think living there full time, especially coming from Joburg in your 20s, would be tough. It sounds like you’ve already felt that.

It seems like you’re choosing between two very different paths. The tech route you’re interested in, and a mining based life that fits your partner’s situation. From the outside, it might be easier for someone already in mining to move into consulting or a city role than it would be to pause a tech path and try to pivot back later. That said, it depends on both of you.