And while managing director Tim Carstens and executive director Colin Bwye must be satisfied with the way in which the Base team brought the Kwale mineral sands project into production, and the way it is currently performing, there will be little time for self-congratulation as the company sets its focus on enhancement of its existing assets and new growth opportunities.

Kwale, just 50km south of the Kenyan port of Mombasa, is a perfect example of the way in which a small Australian company can not only develop a mine, but also establish all the infrastructure for its successful operation.

A sealed road to the project, its own marine terminal at Likoni port, a dam for water supply, process plants and a large mining operation – all of this done in a country that has a very limited history or tradition of mining at scale.

Even better, the years of construction, development and now production spanning more than 13 million man hours have been marked by just three lost time injuries, something which pleases the Base management team just as much as the operational success that Kwale has become.

The potential for injury was ever-present, as the number of people working on the $340 million project was substantial. There were nearly 2500 people working on site at peak of construction, of which nearly half – around 1000 – were from the local area. The potential for more mishaps to occur did not eventuate, despite the fact that many of those building the mine had absolutely no experience of working on an industrial construction and mine site – and, in some instances, of actually being in formal wage-paying employment.

Now in operation, Base has a contingent of 650 permanent employees and there are a further 200 contractors. There are now just 40 expatriates at site and the intention is to reduce this number to just 15 over coming years. Pleasingly for Carstens, the majority of the Kenyan workforce has been sourced from surrounding villages.

Apart from starting production during the recent years of turmoil and weakening commodity prices, Carstens says that one of the biggest challenges has been managing community expectations.

“We see ourselves as not just building a company through building the Kwale project, we are also building an industry in Kenya with this flagship mining project, and we are going about it in a way that sets an unashamedly high benchmark for others to follow. We think this is the right thing to do but also pretty pragmatic – if we can set a high bar for every other mining project in Kenya, we won’t have to deal with the negative consequences of poor resource development on public perception.”

It is a theme to which Carstens constantly returns: the importance he and Base attach to being excellent corporate citizens, with an absolute intolerance of doing anything that could potentially cause reputational damage further down the track. Apart from its primary ASX listing, Base is also listed on AIM, thanks to the high degree of understanding in London of mineral sands, and appetite for Africa. Because of this, about 20% of the company’s shares are held in Europe. Although Base has never raised money through the AIM market, “it is a much bigger universe for us over there”, and this led to the dual listing two years ago.

Base has an institution-dominated register, with the top 10 holding about 80% of the stock.

“Kwale has been built with the objective of transferring the business model to other assets,” Carstens said, making it clear that along with continuing to generate positive cashflow, Base would actively pursue both medium and long-term growth options. With two years of operations now complete, the remaining life of mine at Kwale – which produces ilmenite, rutile and zircon – is 10 years, assuming no new deposits are discovered.

The company’s first foray into acquiring another mineral sands company, World Titanium Resources, was frustrated by the target’s three largest shareholders. This has not deterred Carstens, who added that he believed that WTR’s Toliara project in Madagascar was one of the best undeveloped mineral sands projects in the world. “We really like that project and nothing subsequent has changed that view.”

Toliara and WTR aside, Carstens said that Base would look for opportunities, in most jurisdictions, to apply the company’s proven development capabilities and capacity in a measured fashion. 

Local exploration potential was also being evaluated however it is relatively low key at this point but will ramp up.

While Base and Kwale have ticked all the boxes on the development and production timeline, it is difficult to accept the company’s share price, which has simply slipped away with commodity prices, ironically almost in line with every success the company has notched up.

Carstens takes this on the chin and is focused on putting Base in the best possible position to capitalise on a future recovering market.  “While the current commodity market poses challenges, it also creates opportunities for us. We have got ourselves in good shape to work through the trough, having firmly anchored Kwale high in the first quartile of producers on revenue to cash cost ratio and implemented a sensible debt repayment profile appropriate to the times. In the year ahead, we will continue to assess acquisition options that will allow us to capitalise on our capabilities and create shareholder value. Our focus is to put our foot on an asset that will be at the front of the logical development conga line when the market calls a new project forward.”