History

1919: Caustic soda and chlorine production commences at the Mt Lyell Mining & Railway Co Chemical Works site in Yarraville, Victoria.

1920-30s: Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) is formed in the UK, and begins chemical importation and distribution in Australia and New Zealand, acquiring the Yarraville site.

1940: Alkali production expands with the commissioning of a plant at Osborne, South Australia.

1957: Polyethylene production established at Botany, New South Wales.

1958: ICI’s headquarters, ICI House, opens. At 275 feet high, ICI House was Australia’s first skyscraper. IXOM’s headquarters are still located here today.

1970s: Water treatment technology advances significantly with the development of the ‘Sirotherm’ desalination process in partnership with CSIRO in Australia, and ‘Flocor’ biological filter packaging in New Zealand.

1988: A dedicated Watercare division is established.

1997-98: ICI divests its Australian and New Zealand shareholdings, and a new independent Australian company, Orica, is formed.

1998: The world’s first Magnetic Ion Exchange (MIEX ®) water treatment plan is commissioned in Western Australia to treat water for the Perth region.

1999: A new, state of the art chlor alkali plant is constructed at Laverton North, Victoria.

2000s: Water treatment capability continues to expand, and specialist food and fragrance distributors Bronson and Jacobs Pty Ltd and Keith Harris Flavours and Fragrances are acquired.

2015: IXOM is formed as a standalone company following the divestment of Orica’s chemicals division.

2018: A multiple chemical processing facility, Logichem in Western Australia, is acquired.

2019: IXOM celebrates 100 years of operation.

2020: The acquisition of Medora Corporation in Dickinson, North Dakota expands our global source water management offering.

2021: We strengthen our position in essential oils, acquiring Australian Botanical Products at Hallam, Victoria, and expand our industrial product portfolio with the acquisition of New Zealand-based SCR Solutions.

2022: IXOM expands our building and infrastructure operations across Australia with the acquisition of Bituminous Products.

2023: Our Life Sciences offering expands after IXOM acquires Pure Ingredients, based in Auckland, New Zealand.