1,000 local candidates assessed & 135 hired at Base Resources' Toliara Project

When Base Resources acquired the Toliara Project in Madagascar in 2018, they faced a unique challenge. They needed to build an entire workforce from scratch in a remote location where formal employment opportunities were limited and education levels varied. Traditional recruitment methods wouldn’t work.

So, they took a different approach. Base Resources set up a comprehensive assessment program to test local candidates on practical skills, not just paper qualifications. Over 1,000 people from neighbouring communities were assessed for literacy, numeracy and problem-solving ability. From this pool, 135 locals joined the workforce. The program also trained 14 local staff to run future assessments themselves, ensuring Base could continue recruiting from the community as the project grew.

The challenge

Base Resources knew that building a workforce at Toliara would be unlike any recruitment challenge they’d faced before. In this part of Madagascar, most people had never written a CV or worked in a formal mining environment. Education levels varied dramatically: some candidates had trade qualifications while others had only a few years of school.

A traditional approach of reviewing resumes and conducting standard interviews would exclude talented people who simply hadn’t had these opportunities. But Base still needed to meet international safety and operational standards for their workforce.

They recognised that getting this right would shape their relationship with local communities for years to come. A fair, transparent process that gave everyone an equal opportunity would build trust and goodwill.

Base wanted to develop an assessment approach to identify practical ability and learning potential, regardless of someone’s education or work history.

Our recommendations and plan

Base Resources reached out to us to help them design an assessment program suitable for their challenges in Madagascar. We met with their leadership team to learn about the specific challenges at Toliara, then recommended a two-stage approach.

Part 1: Pilot program

We suggested Base start with a one-month pilot to develop and calibrate three assessment tools.

• Language, Literacy and Numeracy (LLN) assessments to measure reading comprehension, language conventions, and numerical concepts essential for operational roles
• Ravens Assessment. A paper-based cognitive test that measures problem-solving and learning capability regardless of educational background
• Dover Assessment to practically measure hand-eye coordination, reaction time, and equipment handling potential

We recommended testing these tools with subsets of their existing employees, grouped by education level. This calibration would establish local norms before the full rollout.

Part 2: Full implementation

We could then use the results of the pilot to help Base implement a three-month program to:

• • Assess 1,000 candidates from neighbouring communities using the calibrated tests
  • Build a database of screened candidates for selection into training programs
  • Train local staff to administer and interpret the assessments independently

This structured approach would ensure Base developed a sound recruitment process they could sustain long-term.

The project roll-out

The Base team agreed with our recommendations and asked us to run the program with them.

Part 1: Pilot program assessments

We began by testing 71 candidates across three locations: Tana, Toliara, and north of Mangily to validate the assessments in realistic conditions.

In the pilot phase, we deployed three assessments:

Language, Literacy and Numeracy (LLN) assessments
We adapted these from Australian Qualification Framework standards to assess reading comprehension, language conventions, and numerical concepts. These elements are essential across most operational roles and inform future learning pathways and delivery methods.

Ravens Assessment
We chose Ravens as our cognitive test because it’s paper-based, culturally neutral, and independent of language and educational background. Ravens measures clear thinking, problem identification, and learning capability which are essential for mining work.

We mapped these tests to participants according to their education level—from those with less than 3 years of schooling through to trade-qualified workers. This grouping allowed us to establish local benchmarks for each education level.

Dover Assessment
The Dover Assessment measures underlying practical skills like hand-eye coordination, reaction time, and decision-making abilities. While we included Dover in our pilot program, it didn’t require calibration as it uses standardised benchmarks.

If you want to find out more about the Dover Assessment, we wrote a comprehensive guide to the test here.

In total, we tested 71 candidates across the three locations to “test the tests” in realistic conditions. Based on these results, we calibrated the LLN and Ravens assessments to fit local conditions.

Part 2: Full program roll-out

Over five weeks, our team of consultants worked alongside 20 Base employees to implement the full assessment program.

The community response was overwhelming. A call-out to neighbouring communities attracted 5,000 expressions of interest. Base’s HR team selected nearly 1,000 people for the first wave of testing, carefully allocating each candidate to their appropriate education group during registration.

Based on these results, we selected the top 20% of candidates (243 people) to progress to Dover testing.

The Dover testing helped identify people who could safely handle equipment and meet the physical demands of mining work. From the 243 who completed Dover, Base selected 135 people for their training programs.

By testing cognitive ability first, then practical skills, Base found people who could both learn the work and physically do it.

Results: Strong recruitment pipeline and community benefits

The program delivered exactly what Base Resources needed. From the 997 local candidates assessed, they built a pipeline of qualified people ready to join their workforce. The 135 selected for training programs came from the surrounding communities, with priority given to those directly affected by the project.

Community impact went beyond just employment. By running a transparent assessment process that gave everyone a chance—regardless of education level or work history—Base demonstrated their commitment to local development. People who’d never had the opportunity for formal employment could now access mining careers.

Base Resource’s site management team commented on the success of the program, saying “it had a very positive impact on our relations with the community” and Globe’s “professional expertise has really added credibility to the initiative”.

Internal upskilling and long-term capability

Finally, one of Base’s biggest wins was strengthening their local team to build long-term capability.

We trained and certified 14 local employees to run future assessments independently. After thorough training including two weeks of supervised practice, these assessors could continue recruiting from local communities as operations grew.

The assessment database also gave Base more flexibility. They could now draw from the pool of already-assessed candidates as new positions opened, reducing time-to-hire and recruitment costs.

Base’s success a blueprint for other mining operations

Base Resources’ experience at Toliara shows what’s possible when mining companies invest in structured, community-focused recruitment from the start. They built a process to identify potential based on practical ability, not just formal qualifications.

The results speak for themselves: a strong local workforce, certified assessors to sustain recruitment, and genuine community support. This approach works because talent exists everywhere—companies just need the right tools to find it.

Mining companies facing similar challenges in remote locations can use Base’s model as a blueprint for their own success.