Orica set to expand as miners dig deeper in rush for green metals

Gandhi said enabling Orica’s customers to discover and access those “future-facing” commodities was vital to driving the clean energy transition.

“At the moment, there is very good demand, but supply constraints,” he said.

The acquisition comes after Orica unveiled a strategy update to investors in November, saying it intended to expand digital monitoring offers, attract new customers in key Asian markets and expand its reach into “future-facing” commodities such as electric battery materials.

ASX-listed Orica, a supplier of explosives, blasting systems, mining chemicals and monitoring and digital solutions, employs 13,000 workers across its operations.

Because gas is the main ingredient in ammonium nitrate, which is used to make explosives and fertiliser, surging prices on Australia’s east coast and the prospect of gas shortfalls pose significant concerns for Orica.

This week, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said a gas shortage of 56 petajoules was now expected in 2023 – about 10 per cent of domestic demand. Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King has acted on the ACCC’s recommendation to take initial steps towards enacting a policy mechanism to hold back a certain volume of natural gas that cannot be exported and must be supplied to domestic buyers.

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Gandhi said he was deeply concerned at the prospect of gas shortfalls emerging, and feared “further disruptions” may lie ahead as the Northern Hemisphere winter approaches ad drives greater demand for gas in heating, worsening the global crunch.

“We need to do something to support major gas users like us… we do not use gas for generating electricity, we use gas as a raw material as a feedstock to manufacture very valuable products,” he said.

“I’m glad that the regulators are now aligned to our view that the gas industry in this country is broken.”