Kate Baldwin, WIM (UK)’s newly appointed Treasurer, has been in the mining industry for over 10 years. Working with mining entrepreneur, Kevin Foo, she was General Manager of AIM-listed Celtic Resources until it’s acquisition in 2007. Thereafter, she has worked as a consultant to Foo’s private company, Highcountry Investments Limited. At Celtic and Highcountry, she has been involved at a corporate level with a range of metals and minerals including gold, copper, molybdenum, jade, rutile, bauxite and oil & gas. She has worked on production and exploration projects in Kazakhstan, Russia and Cameroon. Kate’s background includes accountancy, company secretarial and investment banking experience in London and Dublin. She has a Law & Economic Degree from University College, Durham.
WIM (UK): Thanks for coming on board as Treasurer, Kate! Your experience will surely prove helpful in understanding our increasingly wide-ranging membership and how our sponsor and non-profit funding can be best put to use.
Thanks for having me! I do hope I can add some value to the team. The main part of my industry experience comes from working within an AIM listed mining company. I think this has allowed me to fully understand the working relationships from a company perspective with all the various service and investor related providers. The WIM (UK) membership base comes from all these fields. Whilst I have yet to familiarise myself with our members list I think that the spread across the board from company to advisor and investor to student is key. The networking opportunities and sharing of information are invaluable and in both of these respects I am very impressed with the transformation that WIM (UK) has made in recent times. To have such a professional approach to its events does not go unnoticed. I hope that future funds can be used to build on this. I hope to work closely with, and support, the sponsorship and events committees to ensure that our budgeting is well planned and forward thinking. I think it is key to show our sponsors that we are using their funds wisely and for them to see the value in their continued support – much in the same way a Company needs to treat its investors.
WIM (UK): Increasingly, we’re seeing emphasis on the need for persons within mining to have onsite experience and business acumen – a big ‘ask’, particularly with the skills shortages taking centre stage. Perhaps you can tell us more about your work in each regard?
When you work within a smaller company you don’t have the luxury of big specialised departments and you have to rely heavily on your advisors but at the same time manage them. The upside to this as an employee is that you gain exposure to all aspects of the business. From the operational, regulatory, transactional, legal, accounting and investor relations functions of an organisation; you have to be a good “all rounder”. Whilst my education was from a non mining background my mining knowledge (albeit still very limited compared to the professionals) has been learnt on the job. I think employers need to have this flexible approach. Give opportunities to people that come from one specific background and allow them to gain experience of the various disciplines on the job from the people they work with. This was where I have been so lucky. The best advice ever given to me by Kevin was never to be afraid to ask the stupid questions. And I will always be grateful to the person that gave me a copy of the book “Mining Explained” nearly 10 years ago. I would not have been able to add real value when working on Annual Reports, Press Releases, websites, Internal Operational reports and the like without such support.
Essentially I started out as a PA at Celtic by accident. I have ended up working on such a diversified range of projects in an industry that I never had any plans to be in. My degree and previous experience gave me a good basis to start with but I have always been keen to do more. My work took me onsite to Suzdal, (our then producing gold mine in North East Kazakhstan shortly after the commissioning of our BIOX plant), to the PAMP refinery in Switzerland (when I was working on the renegotiation of our gold sales contracts). I could never have anticipated being involved in such projects when I started out.
I have found the HR side of the industry one of the hardest – our experience in finding the right person has been very hit and miss. When recruiting I would always want to see an aspect of that flexibility over disciplines – a small company needs it.
WIM (UK): In Celtic alone, Kevin Foo and the team assembled a diverse Kazakh/Russian portfolio of gold and moly and oil & gas assets. Post-acquisition, it seems like these projects remain on the radar, which must say something about the earlier stage exploration, discovery and development capabilities of the Celtic team.
We had a team with a huge amount of experience and a highly successful track record in identifying, acquiring, proving and divesting early development-stage minerals opportunities. We worked in some of the harder parts of the world and whilst not without our difficulties we have shown that a smaller company can succeed in face of these obstacles. In 1999 when Kevin first was approached by Celtic the market cap was £0.7m and we were acquired at £162m in 2007. The markets are a lot tougher these days but I think this has emphasised the importance of the quality of the project which has always tried to be our focus.
WIM (UK): Perhaps you can tell us about the geographical locations and projects you’re involved with now?
Following on from your previous question Kevin saw our key strength being the team that he had built up over the years and where possible this has moved across into his privately owned company Highcountry Investments Limited.
The Company strategy is to acquire and augment assets at the early development phase – where the existence of a specific ore or mineral resource is known, but has not been confirmed to the level of certainty required for financing to develop the project for exploitation. Proving resources in this way has the best risk/return pay-off.
While very early stage exploration activities have a low chance of success, at the other end of the scale, building out production from fully proven resources is highly capital-intensive. By comparison, with appropriately skilled management, development stage opportunities can provide significant increase in valuation for a relatively modest outlay.
With assets and opportunities in a wide range of countries the Company has a risk-balanced approach to a sector with recognised dependency on geopolitical factors.
The Company has reviewed hundreds of development stage opportunities and has acquired ownership or a path to control over the most attractive. The projects I am currently involved are Jade, Bauxite and Rutile assets in Kazakhstan and Cameroon
We are now looking to raise capital which will be used to fully acquire those that we don’t currently own and develop the projects that we have.
WIM (UK): When you aren’t assisting Highcountry in its various endeavours, what might we find you doing?
When I was initially made redundant from Celtic and prior to Highcountry building momentum I also took on some Company Secretarial work at Kerman & Co LLP who were Celtic’s and are now Highcountrys legal advisors. I enjoy this work and continue to assist on this with my company Dexter Cornerstone Limited. During this time we have also been working on the development of a company formation website: www.coinc.co.uk.
When I am not working I am loving being a new mum. Our little girl Jessica is nearly one and a half and she has added such a new level of fun to my life. She is a little character already and I never thought I would enjoy motherhood so much despite the sleep deprivation! I won’t lie and say that getting the balance of work and family life has been easy but being self employed has allowed me to be a little more flexible in my working hours. I work a lot when Jessica sleeps. The majority of my work is email based and with most of my colleagues being in various time zones it helps me to juggle! Whilst being a Woman in Mining has had its challenges over the years I am now aware that being a Working Mum (in Mining) adds another level to that! I think you instinctively work harder in the need to prove yourself but my new awareness of the costs of childcare in this country frustrates me. As if it is not hard enough for mums to get back into the workplace? But that is another conversation…
WIM (UK): Finally, any messages to members?
I look forward to getting more actively involved in WIM (UK) over the coming months and if anyone has any questions or recommendations please do not hesitate to contact me on kate@dexter-cornerstone.com.