The awards, hosted by the Queensland Resources Council and Women in Mining and Resources Queensland, will be presented at the International Women's Day Breakfast at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Ferguson, who the Australian Financial Review named as one of Australia's 100 Women of Influence last year, was non-executive director of Dart Energy from 2012 until 2013 and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

She is currently NED of SCA Property Group, Hyne Timber, SunWater and Queensland Theatre Company and she founded boutique advisory Orbitas Group, which is focused on safety leadership and governance for board members and senior executives.

She was also the inaugural chair of the Thiess Advisory Board and remained in the role for the full term of the board.

QRC CEO Michael Roche says the awards and breakfast play an important role in the resources sector's mission to increase the participation of women in non-traditional roles to at least 20% by 2020.

"The long-term sustainability of our sector relies on attracting and retaining sufficient skilled people and we need to continue to keep our eye on future needs, even when we are experiencing difficult times," he said.

"We need to continue to encourage people from sectors of our community who are under-represented in our ranks to consider resources sector careers, and women remain the obvious prime targets."

He said that while much progress had been made - with women in non-traditional roles such as engineering, geology, trades, operators and senior management more than doubling from 6% in 2006 to 13.5% in 2013-14 - the sector could not afford to be complacent.

"A number of QRC's member companies have already attained the 20% goal," he said.

"However we can't rest on our laurels and we need to continue the initiatives put in place over the past 10 years to ensure women continue to share in the great careers and prosperity provided by our sector.'

Blackwater, Mackay and Moranbah will also host simultaneous breakfasts with a live webcast of the awards presentation from Brisbane.