Orica

Orica Limited (asx: ORI) is an Australian-based multinational corporation that is one of the world's largest providers of commercial explosives and blasting systems to the mining, quarrying, oil and gas, and construction markets, a supplier of sodium cyanide for gold extraction, and a specialist provider of ground support services in mining and tunnelling.

Orica has a workforce of around 15,000 employees and contractors, servicing customers across more than 100 countries. Orica is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. It has in recent years been subject to a number of high-profile industrial accidents and fatalities.

History

Founded in 1874 as Jones, Scott and Co, a supplier of explosives during the Victorian gold rush, the company was bought by Nobel Industries. Nobel later merged with several British chemical manufacturers to form Imperial Chemical Industries. In 1928, Imperial Chemical Industries of Australia and New Zealand (ICIANZ) was incorporated to acquire and coordinate all of its Australasian interests.[3]

In July 1997, ICI Australia became an independent Australasian company after Imperial Chemical Industries, divested its 62.4 per cent shareholding in the company.[4] ICI Australia was required to change its name and on 2 February 1998 was rebranded as Orica.[5]

In 2010, Orica spun off Dulux leaving the company to focus on the provision of services to the mining, construction and infrastructure industries.[6][7]

In November 2014, Orica sold its chemicals business to the Blackstone Group. The sale was completed on 2 March 2015, and the chemicals business now operates under the name Ixom.[8]

The chemicals operations that were divested trace their roots to nineteenth-century Australian industrial chemistry, notably including firms such as Cuming, Smith & Co., which through a series of mergers became part of Imperial Chemical Industries Australia and New Zealand (ICI ANZ), later transitioning into Orica’s chemicals division.[9]

In 2018, Orica acquired GroundProbe, a provider of monitoring and measurement technologies for mining.[10]

In 2020, Orica acquired Essa, a manufacturer and distributor of industrial explosives in Peru.[11]

In 2023, Orica acquired Terra Insights and Cyanco.[12]

Financial performance

Orica's revenue in 2016 was AUD$5.1 billion and statutory net profit after tax (NPAT) attributable to the shareholders of Orica for the full year ended 30 September 2016 was $343 million.[13]

Sustainability

Orica is a member of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, the Australian SAM Sustainability Index (AuSSI) and the FTSE4Good Index. These Indexes provide a benchmark for the performance of investments in sustainable companies and funds. Orica releases an annual Sustainability Report that outlines performance against key sustainability metrics.[14]

In 2014, Orica was identified as a global leader in natural capital decoupling,[15] which shows the ability of organisations to "decouple" financial growth from environmental impact, by increasing revenue whilst decreasing their absolute impact.

Markets/industries

Orica operates across the following markets and industries:

• Surface metal
• Surface coal
• Underground mining
• Underground construction
• Construction
• Quarrying
• Oil and gas

Products and services

Orica operates three primary business areas:

Headquarters

Once Australia's tallest building, the companies headquarters, Orica House in East Melbourne, was Australia's tallest during the 1950s and was one of the first high-rise buildings in Australia's cities.[18]

Incidents