Group plans NZAS legal action

An environmental group is planning legal action to determine whether Rio Tinto is responsible for a hazardous substance dumped in a Mataura building.

The Environmental Defence Society intends to file papers in the Environment Court this week, seeking clarification of whether Tiwai Point smelter operator New Zealand Aluminium Smelters Ltd (NZAS), which is majority owned by Rio Tinto, is responsible for the ouvea premix being stored in the former Mataura paper mill.

The premix creates ammonia gas if it gets wet.

Environmental Defence Society chief executive Gary Taylor said ‘‘the basic premise was that NZAS retains Resource Management Act responsibilities for removing the premix from a site at Mataura and for the risks of harm to aquatic or human health’’.

The non-profit group was established in 1971 and is committed to improving environmental outcomes for all New Zealanders.

The proceedings were ‘‘essentially asking the Environment Court whether NZAS retains liability for the safe disposal of the dross, notwithstanding that it contracted that task out to a company that went bust’’, Taylor said.

The court would be asked to rule only on the ouvea premix being stored at Mataura, and not at other sites in Southland, he said.

Barrister Rob Enright is acting for the group.

NZAS and Rio Tinto declined to comment on the proceedings.

Rio Tinto and NZAS have long argued that they do not own the substance. The smelter had a contract with Taha Asia Pacific, which processed aluminium dross into ouvea premix. That premix could then be turned into fertiliser.

Taha went into liquidation in 2016, leaving an estimated 20,000 tonnes of premix in Southland warehouses. The receiver failed to find a buyer for the substance and formally disclaimed ownership of it in December 2017, meaning disposal became the responsibility of a group of parties including central and local government.

In September 2018, Gore District Council chief executive Steve

Parry announced he had brokered a $4 million deal to remove the premix over six years.

When floodwaters threatened the old Mataura paper mill in February this year, a further deal was brokered to fast-track the removal of premix from Mataura.

However, Rio Tinto pulled out of that deal. It remains committed to the original deal, which will see premix moved from Southland sites over six years.

At the time Environment Minister David Parker said he was considering taking legal action against Rio Tinto.