Koodaideri
Koodaideri is the first crane company to be whollyowned by Aboriginal Australians. Managing director Peter Todd explains how the company was established, and how his family’s experience in Pilbara’s mining region is helping them develop the business.

In early February 2012, along with other Traditional Owners (TOs) from the Banjyma language group, Rio Tinto presented an opportunity for TO’s from the Pilbara region of Western Australia to go into business. After discussion between all family members, we decided to proceed with the opportunity and in May 2012 the Todd family registered their business: Koodaideri Contracting Services (KCS). Throughout its establishment, KCS received substantial support via BHP Billiton Iron Ore’s Indigenous Business Support Program (IBSP).

Andrew Johnson from RSM Bird Cameron, who runs the IBSP on behalf of BHP Billiton Iron Ore, met with our family to discuss setting up the business and to help develop our business plan. After three months of discussions and meetings, KCS had finally put the business plan together and finalised a draft that would be presented for approval to the directors of KCS. Following acceptance by the family, KCS was ready to move into business. In early April 2013 we secured our first contract to provide a 25t pick and carry crane to EMJC for the rebuild of a primary crusher for Downer EDI and Fortesque Metal Group (FMG) at their Christmas Creek mine. Following the award of the contract we purchased a Terex Australia 25t pick and carry crane, which was ideal for the scope of work on this project.

Once our contract commenced, the company moved onto the next stage, which was to establish ourselves as a certified Health and Safety (CAT3) company with Rio Tinto. We had a 70% pass mark which was a great result for our ladies who put a lot of time and effort into getting KCS certified. Since then we have also embarked on a 50-50 joint venture with a company called Viento Group (John Silverthorne and Brian Bailey), which allowed us to move into the civil industry. Part of the agreement is that KCS would still remain a 100% Indigenous-owned crane company and, even though we are a newly developed joint venture company, I believe KCS can become one of the leading Indigenous companies in Western Australia. KVJV was recently awarded a contract with Rio Tinto on its Dampier salt site in Port Hedland Pre-concentrator pond cyclone repairs project. We aim to use this job to build our reputation and capabilities within the civil and mining sector.

The Todd family comes from the Banjyma language group of Western Australia and there are around eight iron ore mines within the plains of this region. One advantage the family has is that between the five boys in the family we have over 100 years of mining experience. I think that’s something that would be hard to find anywhere else in Australia or even the world. Laurie has worked as a trade person in the mechanical fitting field for over 30 years, George has 30 years of experience in the supervising/mentoring field with Rio Tinto, John has worked for 20 years in the rail sector, Kevin has over 20 years of experience in mobile plant operating and Inhave worked for over 25 years in operations with the three major iron ore companies: Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and FMG. Our family intends to build a reputation on honesty and trust that will put our business in the top brackets in the civil and mining sectors of Western Australia. It’s about moving forward and continuing to develop the relationship between Western society and Indigenous people from around the world.

The conditions in the north of Western Australia are very tough as the earth is roughly 60-70% solid rock. At night the temperature can drop as low as 5°C and in the day it can be as high as 40 or 50°C.

We have a great business relationship with Terex cranes in Australia and it’s a relationship that provides friendship and stability for our company. We have a great deal of respect for the capabilities of their machines and their 24 hour service. Selecting the right machinery is an important part of what we’re doing because the cranes need to be both tough and reliable.

At the moment we’re looking at three different lines of work. We’re well into the construction field and we’ve secured work in the civil sector, so now it’s a question of moving into commercial mining. As a relatively new business we are currently focusing on iron ore operations in the Pilbara region of the country, but we’d also like to expand within this region to work on oil and gas projects.

We are a hard working family that has built the business ourselves but certain companies have lent a hand along the way including Terex Australia, Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, as well as our accountant RSMI Bird Cameron, who assisted us in setting up the business developing the business plan and planning cash flow and so on. To put it in a nutshell we are a family who have a lot of experience in mining but not a lot of commercial experience.

It’s important for us to look at the nature of the market and adapt to the changes that occur. It’s about being more innovative with our rosters and machinery, hence why we have left our business plan as a draft. We aim to deliver our projects safely and efficiently but with quality and less expenditure. I am very proud of where I come from and must pay respect to our traditional elders, past and present.

Peter Todd, MD, Koodaideri