Government rules out Christmas decision on future of Tiwai Point aluminium smelter
Tuesday, 22 December 2020
The Government says no decision on the future of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter is expected in the next 48 hours.
Rio Tinto announced in July it would close the Southland plant, which hires 1000 people and results in another 1600 indirect jobs, in August 2021.
The Government is currently negotiating with the company to try to keep it open for another three to five years so the Southland economy has time to transition to other industries.
Rio Tinto earlier had said it wanted a decision on the plant’s future made before Christmas.
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However, on Tuesday, a spokesperson for Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods said it was not anticipating to make any announcement in next 48 hours.
In a statement, Woods said: “we have been clear from the start that any arrangement to assist Rio Tinto with meeting their electricity transmission costs will require a firm commitment around remediation of the Tiwai aluminium smelter site.
“We are determined to avoid a toxic wasteland being left behind. This is also the strongly held position of mana whenua and other parts of the community.
“Although we hoped to have a resolution by Christmas, we are making progress and look forward to working with Rio Tinto to reach a mutually beneficial agreement for the community, local iwi and the smelter and its employees.
“There are a number of exciting opportunities emerging for Southland’s extraordinary renewable energy resource from the Manapouri hydro dam, and plans are already under way to improve transmission infrastructure to enable movement of the electricity to other parts of the region and further north.”
A Rio Tinto spokesperson said negotiations with the Government were ongoing and productive.
Rio Tinto and Ngāi Tahu were expected to meet on Monday to discuss remediation of the site.
Neither party has confirmed if that meeting took place.