Joining our series on this episode is special guest Charlie Bass, Founder of Bass Group & renowned businessman, entrepreneur, and philanthropist.
For more than five decades, Charlie has been an instrumental figure in corporate Australia, playing a leading role in the establishment and success of companies in a diverse range of sectors, including mining, resources development, technology & entrepreneurial research.
Born in Reading Pennsylvania, Charlie was raised in Florida to entrepreneurial parents, with his father a small business owner who frequently moved the family in pursuit of new opportunities including to Toronto, wherein Charlie later completed his secondary school education.
With a passion for the outdoors from a young age, Charlie enrolled in university studies in geology, mining and later mineral processing, completing undergraduate and post-graduate degrees, culminating in a Scholarship to complete a master’s degree at Queens University in Ontario.
Following two years working in the US with mining firm Amax Inc, Charlie re-located to Australia in 1978 and began working on Amax’s Mount Newman Iron Ore project, later establishing a software mining company known as MeTech in 1980.
Alongside fellow Western Australian business identity, Tony Poli, Charlie Co-Founded Eagle Mining Corporation in 1992, a business that grew throughout the course of the 90’s and fast became one of the most successful local exploration firms, before being acquired five years later in 1997 in a c. $250m deal.
Three years later in 2000, the pair combined again to establish Aquila Resources Limited, an ASX-listed business initially focused on gold exploration but that later transitioned into other resources including coal, manganese & iron ore.
In 2014, Aquila Resources was acquired in a c. $1.4bn deal between Baosteel-Aurizon, enabling Charlie to pursue a number of external interests and pursuits in the technology, internet & venture capital sectors.
Charlie is also the Founder and Managing Director of Eagle Mountain Mining (EM2), a copper focussed exploration and development company which he established in 2017 with the core objective of becoming a low emission producer to supply the rapidly growing green energy market.
In 2006, he launched the Bass Family Foundation, a charity vehicle purposely designed to provide education for disadvantaged children (particularly in remote area’s) as well as to provide resources & support to indigenous programs throughout Western Australia.
Charlie is also the Founder of the Centre for Entrepreneurial Research and Innovation (CERI), an organisation established in 2015 and which is primarily funded by the Bass Family Foundation to provide targeted programs, grants, events and resources to power the entrepreneurial pursuits and business ideas of future generations of Western Australians.
To-date, CERI has raised over $7.5m in funds to support more than 600 aspiring entrepreneurs.
Charlie was also named 2024 Senior Western Australian of the Year and invests privately through his family office, Bass Group.
Our exclusive interview with Charlie Bass explores his background, his transition from the US to Australia, the key pillars of his success, fundamentals he’s learnt from a lifetime in business and what he regards as his key achievements in a remarkable five-decade long career.
Host - Rob Langton | Ready Media Group
The Interview - Australia's most watched business series.
Further information:
https://cms.australianoftheyear.org.au/recipients/charlie-bass
