Stewart Hamilton, CEO, Tiwai Point: “Aluminium manufacturer Rio Tinto does not own a hazardous substance being stored in Southland warehouses, but the company remains committed to its removal despite not being in a position to store the product at Tiwai Point, New Zealand Aluminium Smelter”
Stewart Hamilton quoted the above lines while responding a letter from Environment Minister David Parker, where Parker said: “he was considering legal action against the owner of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter over its failure to deal with its hazardous waste.”
Ouvea premix gives off ammonia gas when it is wet, and the Mataura building housing was threatened by floodwaters in February.
The potential of an environmental disaster prompted Gore District Council chief executive Steve Parry to strike a deal for the premix to be fast-tracked from Mataura, but Rio Tinto pulled out of the deal. This prompted Parker to write a scathing letter to the aluminium producer, urging it to take responsibility for the class six hazardous substances.
In the letter, Hamilton says the company ''remains committed to working towards a sustainable solution for Southland and the people of Mataura, and that the ouvea premix is removed as soon as possible.''
He says there are no additional measures available in New Zealand Aluminium Smelter's control that would speed up the removal of the ouvea premix and ensure its safe processing.
Hamilton letter said: “NZAS was not able to temporarily store the ouvea premix at its Tiwai Point site. This was because any potential facilities would require significant remediation, causing significant delays, additional significant costs, and related legal issues. NZAS had provided suggestions of more appropriate storage sites and the costs of those.”
“The company was unable to stop processing aluminium dross to process ouvea premix instead because they were two different materials and the premix needed to be treated differently.”
Under a deal struck between interested parties in 2019, Australian-based Company Inalco Processing Ltd will see the removal of 22,000 tonnes of the substance from sites in Mataura and Invercargill during the next six years. NZAS has pledged $1.75m towards the deal.
Responses
