Taha Asia Pacific Ltd boss Robert Vesper says the company wants to continue storing Ouvea Premix in Mataura, but is having difficulty understanding why a resource consent granted this week comes with a $2.3million bond condition.
Mr Vesper, Taha's head of operations, said yesterday he thought there was a ''typo'' when he read the consent decision from independent commissioners Colin Weatherall and David Pullar.
''I thought the decimal point was in the wrong place and it was supposed to be $230,000.''
Taha processes dross from the aluminium smelter at Taiwai Point, near Bluff. Ouvea Premix is a hazardous byproduct of the process.
It can be further processed into mineral fertiliser, and Taha has plans for a storage facility and small fertiliser plant on industrial land in Awarua, between Invercargill and Bluff.
However, Taha was forced to apply for retrospective consent from the Gore District Council after it was discovered the Ouvea Premix was being stored at the former Mataura paper mill without consent.
In their decision, Mr Weatherall and Mr Pullar approved storage at Mataura for two years, by which time the Awarua plant was expected to be operational.
The $2.3million bond provided the council and residents with ''some security'' that the council would be able to remove Ouvea Premix from the site and dispose of it if Taha did not do that itself at the end of the consent period, they said.
''The fact ... Taha is essentially controlled from overseas reinforces the need for caution, to protect the council and ratepayers from the potential high financial risk of enforcement to deal with this product,'' they said.
Taha has 40 days to either pay the bond in cash or provide a written guarantee and a bond guarantor.
Mr Vesper is based at Taha's head office in Bahrain and has been in New Zealand for three months overseeing the consent process.
He said the bond did not reflect potential clean-up costs.
''I am surprised at the height of the bond. I don't understand the basis on which it was made.''
A conference call was scheduled for yesterday,
and lawyers, financial advisers and Taha expected to make a decision next week, he said.
Mr Vesper said he would like to sit down with the commissioners and the council and negotiate a lower bond, but was unsure whether that was possible.
''This is the first time I have come across something like this and we need to consider what we do next on a very educated basis.''
Taha was keen to continue to store premix at Mataura, he said, as the alternative was to ''waste a resource'' and take it to a landfill.
Taha was keen to ''comply with all regulations'', he said, saying he had inherited a problem caused by the ''illogical'' decisions made by a former Taha staff member to store the material at Mataura and other places without consent.
''We are law-abiding and environmentally minded ... What we are doing is not just about money, it is about credibility. We want to reinstate our credibility and show we are doing something good [by recycling aluminium dross].''
