It's finally going …. Mataura to be rid of hazardous substance

Tuesday, 2 February 2021

Sort Out the Dross spokeswoman and Mataura resident Laurel Turnbull is delighted to hear an agreement has been reached to remove the ouvea premix being stored in the town's former paper mill building. (File video)

Tonnes of a hazardous substance sitting in a Mataura warehouse will be moved to the New Zealand Aluminium Smelters Limited (NZAS) site at Tiwai Point where it will be stored in containers.

The news has been welcomed by Mataura resident Laurel Turnbull, who has been fighting for the removal of the ouvea premix since 2014.

Sort out the Dross spokesperson and Mataura resident Laurel Turnbull is delighted to hear an agreement has been reached to remove the ouvea premix being stored in the town's former paper mill building.

A minute from Alternate Environment Judge Laurie Newhook, which was released on Tuesday, says agreement has been reached by the parties in this case to fast-track the removal of aluminium by-product material [ouvea premix] from the old Mataura paper mill site.

The premix, a class six hazardous substance, produces toxic ammonia gas if it gets wet and the mill it is stored in is next to the Mataura River.

Ouvea premix warning at Mataura Paper Mill by the Mataura River.

* Government investigates options for faster Mataura ouvea premix removal

* Mataura urges toxic waste's immediate removal by government

* Rio Tinto remains committed to removing toxic substance

The removal process is under way now and is expected to be completed by the end of April, subject to weather and availability of equipment.

The by-product is being transported to the smelter at Tiwai where it will be stored in water tight shipping containers and kept on a hardstand. The Crown has provided an indemnity to NZAS for certain losses it could incur through the storage of the material.

“I consider that the agreement will give Mataura residents peace of mind, freeing them from anxiety about the risk of water from the river impacting the material,’’ Newhook said in the minute.

He understood that in time, the material would be exported.

“I believe the agreement offers twin benefits of protecting the wellbeing of Southland's people and its waterways.’’

Newhook said it was a stand-alone agreement to resolve the current situation and was not related to any agreement on the smelter's future or remediation of Tiwai Point.

Sort out the Dross spokesperson Laurel Turnbull was emotional when she heard of the deal on Tuesday.

”It’s almost too good to be true … it’s just wonderful,'’ she said.

She had fought for the premix’s removal since 2014, when it was first discovered in the mill.

New Zealand’s Aluminium Smelter chief executive and site general manager Stew Hamilton said NZAS did not own the material but would remove it from the old paper mill and deliver a solution in the best interests of the community.

“After discussion with the local and national governments, we will provide safe storage at NZAS to resolve this long-standing issue for our Southland community.”

The material would then be processed at NZAS by third party contractors before being shipped to an industrial end-user overseas.

Gore District Council chief executive Steve Parry said: “It’s been a nightmare that refused to go away and now we to look forward to seeing it all gone in a few months.”

The Tiwai smelter was the only logical place for it because it had a license to store it, Parry said.

Mataura Community Board chairman Alan Taylor said it would be a huge relief to the community to have the premix shifted away.

The agreement is the outcome of negotiations between parties, facilitated by Newhook on behalf of the Environment Court, following legal action brought by the Environmental Defence Society to determine ownership and responsibility for removing the ouvea premix.

Environmental Defence Society chief executive Gary Taylor said it had been a complex negotiation.

A small environmental group like EDS should not have been required to take on the biggest mining company in the world to see it face up to its environmental responsibilities, but was pleased with the outcome, he said.

He thanked NZAS and Rio Tinto for helping to get a solution.

Environment Minister David Parker said the resolution would protect the wellbeing of Southland's people and its waterways.

The Ministry for the Environment and NZAS would share the additional costs of removing the material to Tiwai; about $500,000 each.

Parry had brokered a deal between affected parties to start removing the premix from the mill in 2019, and removal began at the rate of one or two truckloads a week in October.

After flooding threatened the mill building in February, Parry brokered an urgent deal to fast-track the removal of the premix, but that was scuppered several days later when Rio Tinto backed out of the hand-shake deal.

Taha Asia Pacific stored 10,000 tonnes of ouvea premix in the former paper mill, and another 10,000 in warehouses in Invercargill before it went into liquidation in 2016.

In December the following year, liquidators formally disclaimed the premix, leaving the Government, local councils and landlords to find a solution for its disposal.