Simone and Brendan O’Dowd discuss how they established a business, how they can help with the sand shortage, and revitalise previously underused resources.
American businessman and writer Philip Crosby once shared this sentiment: slowness to change usually means fear of the new. The sentinment can also be somewhat valid in the quarrying sector. Sometimes, change happens slowly until an innovator disrupts the market.
Simone and Brendan O’Dowd are the two people who started ODE Materials to up-end sand dredging and processing in Australia.
How did ODE Materials come about?
We needed to remove a resource in a profitable way, but there were no contractors who could extract and process the material simultaneously. There was no one dredging and processing at the same time.
So, we designed and built our own plant to do both in a continuous process.
What experience are you both bringing to ODE Materials?
We’re a consortium of two main contractors who have worked jointly in the sand processing industry for more than ten years.
Brendan worked in the manufacturing and cement industries for over a decade, and Simone has significant experience in the mining and logistics sector.
We worked jointly for 10 years to develop this continuous process plant equipment. Instead of developing it on an ad hoc basis, we formed ODE Materials to take it to the next level.
Why have you decided to enter the market now?
After building our plant, we immediately realised there were no contractors because the existing contractors were either dredge operators or sand processors.
If they were sand processors, we realised they often used dry-feed plants, which hit us like a tonne of bricks.
By building the plant, we confirmed what we knew: to truly clean sand, you can’t just spray and dewater it; you need a continuous process.
It achieves a far more superior quality washed sand than what can be achieved with a dry-feed plant.
We realised there weren’t many equipment manufacturers doing what we had done, and there was a gap in the market for continuous process equipment like ours.
We’ve delivered three of our plants so far, and there is more to come.
How does your company plan to help solve sand shortages?
True washing cannot be done by rewatering and dewatering the material, but that is currently all that is sold.
Our technology enables abandoned or previously unsuccessful resources to be redeveloped so they can deliver high-quality sand at an efficient operating cost. It delivers high-spec material regardless of the resource used.
From the beginning, we have consistently delivered this high-value product on time. Because we supplied some major Australian companies and large regional manufacturers in NSW, the material from our plant sold itself.
What does the business have planned for 2025?
We’re open to working with clients with a resource that needs to be re-utilised. If they have the capital expenditure to get the equipment in there, then that’s going to be our next project.
We would love to work with resource owners who may have thought their resource is exhausted. We believe we can help them create a saleable product.•
For more information, call Brendan at 0414 506 430
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