Source : BUSINESS NEWS
Pilbara contractor Yurra has won a $66 million contract with Rio Tinto adding to a pipeline of work with Main Roads WA, Woodside Energy and its recycling joint venture with Sims.
The Karratha-based business has grown rapidly in recent years and currently has about 410 staff, with 20 per cent of those being Aboriginal.
Revenue grew to $143 million in the year to June 2024 and managing director Liam Wilson said he expects to finish the current financial year close to $150 million.
Depending on which measure is used, Yurra is ranked as WA’s second largest or third largest indigenous business, according to Business News’ Data & Insights.
Mr Wilson said Yurra, which is majority owned by Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation, had benefited from several new projects.
The largest of these is a $66 million contract for its civils team for culvert relining works for Rio Tinto.
The Town of Port Hedland awarded its landscape team a $3.8 million contract for the Spoilbank Marina playground project.
Yurra is also proceeding with a design and construct package for 10 new houses for Woodside Energy in Karratha.
Mr Wilson said the Ngardimu joint venture, established last year with ASX company Sims, was going well.
It has secured a 5-year extension to its rail scrap steel reclamation contract with Rio Tinto.
The two companies had already worked together for some years, with Sims delivering its rail recycling services in the Pilbara in cooperation with Yurra, which provided water truck services for fire suppression while Yurra employees were embedded in Sims’ rail recovery teams.
When Yurra expanded its commercial cleaning services from the Pilbara to Perth, Sims became one of its first clients
Another joint venture has enabled Yurra to move into road construction in a big way.
Its Yirdiya joint venture has secured a $49 million contract from Main Roads WA to build a 10-kilometre section of the Manuwarra Red Dog highway in the Pilbara.
The scope of work includes the supply and installation of a 100 person camp and associated access road, along with clearing and construction of the highway and intersections.
The joint venture has started design and survey planning and anticipates tangible work on the ground will commence in the coming months.
The 50:50 joint venture was established with another fast-growing indigenous business, Garli, led by experienced executive Darren Lundberg.
Garli also has a 50:50 joint venture with Juukan Pty Ltd, wholly owned by the Puutu Kunti Kurrama traditional owners.
In January this year, Juukan Garli was awarded a contract to support Rio Tinto’s Brockman Syncline 1 mine development including earthworks, roadworks, drainage, civil works, and water pipeline installation works to enable construction for a 1,000-bed accommodation village.
Juukan Garli also received a contract for site preparation for laydown areas, access tracks, a radio base site pad, and fencing to identify and protect heritage areas along the proposed overland conveyor route.
Editor’s Note: The next print edition of the Business News magazine, out on Monday 16 June, will include an in-depth feature on the Indigenous Business sector.
