Orica Announces Appointment of New Managing Director and CEO

23 August, 2001

Orica Limited (Orica) announced today that Mr Malcolm Broomhead has been appointed Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Orica from 3 September 2001.

The Chairman of Orica, Mr Don Mercer, said: " We are delighted to have secured the services of Mr Broomhead former Managing Director and CEO of North Limited, who has extensive Australian and international experience in the Mining and Industrial sectors. He retired from North Limited when the company was acquired by Rio Tinto Plc in October 2000."

The appointment of Mr Broomhead follows the announcement made on 5 July 2001 that an executive search was commencing for a successor to Mr Philip Weickhardt, who stood down as Managing Director and Chief Executive of Orica on that date.

He joins Orica after a successful career with North Limited where he achieved a significant improvement in profit performance and led the sell off of non-core assets.

Mr Mercer also stated: "The directors have moved with urgency to make this appointment as part of their focus on improving the performance of all of Orica’s businesses."

Malcolm W Broomhead

Malcolm Broomhead was Managing Director and Chief Executive of North Limited from January 1999 until the company was acquired by Rio Tinto Plc in October 2000.

North was an Australian-headquartered, global diversified resources company with annual revenues of A$2 billion and a market capitalisation of A$3.5 billion. North had operations in Australia, Canada, Sweden and Argentina.

Malcolm spent 10 years with North from 1990 to 2000. Prior to becoming Managing Director, his earlier positions included Deputy Managing Director; Executive Director, Operations and Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining North, Malcolm held senior operations, engineering and financial positions with Industrial Equity Ltd, Peko Wallsend Ltd, and MIM Holdings Ltd and worked in the United Kingdom, Middle East and Papua New Guinea as well as in Australia.

An Australian who is resident in Melbourne, Malcolm’s qualifications include Bachelor of Engineering and Master of Business Administration degrees from the University of Queensland.