Loads of dross boon for Southland farms

Fluctuating fertiliser prices could become a thing of the past in the south if a dross recycling plant starting up at the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter is successful.

Taha Asia Pacific expects to complete its $5 million dross recycling plant at New Zealand Aluminium Smelters' site by August.

Taha has a long-term contract to recover usable metal from NZAS' dross, a waste by-product of the smelting process, and also the 40,000-odd tonne stored in landfills at Tiwai.

However, in a world first, the firm is going to turn the remainder of the dross into a phosphate fertiliser to sell to southern farmers.

Taha Asia Pacific director Hamish McCallum said the product was good news for the region because it would not be imported and therefore not affected by international prices through factors such as global fuel costs.

"We don't care if the price of oil goes to $400 a barrel, it will not affect our price," he said.

The company has already begun building a plant at the smelter and is working to get consent for a plant in the city to begin processing the dross into fertiliser from September.

The recycling process is expected to create about 40 jobs at Tiwai, with another six to 12 in Invercargill.

The Invercargill plant would produce between 10,000 and 12,000 tonne a year – a drop in the more than 240,000 tonne imported to Southland on average each year – but if successful Taha would look at importing dross from places like the United States, he said.