Rio Tinto pledges to clean up

Mining giant Rio Tinto has pledged millions in environmental remediation work in the South as southern leaders say the company is trying to clean up its image.

The majority owner of the Tiwai Point smelter made a series of promises yesterday to pay for the clean-up across the South.

It said it would remove discarded dross, significantly reduce cyanide getting into the marine environment, and work with others to show it can operate and close its New Zealand Aluminium Smelters site responsibly.

The company went further and said it would take over the $4million in funding commitments already pledged by the Government, southern councils, and landowners to deal with the ouvea premix waste stored in Mataura.

Southern leaders embraced the news yesterday.

Over about the last six weeks the company had changed its approach to dealing with the community and had taken on a greater sense of environmental responsibility, Gore Mayor Tracy Hicks said.

"It’s very welcome, it’s fantastic news, I’m thrilled," Mr Hicks said.

Rio Tinto’s past behaviour had been very damaging for the company, Environment Southland chairman Nicol Horrell said.

But the council now had assurances sites that needed attention would get cleaned up, he said.

"The people that are in place now [at Rio Tinto] have gone to great lengths to apologise for their behaviour over the last couple of years and are wanting to repair their reputation," Mr Horrell said.

Invercargill deputy mayor Nobby Clark called the promises "a big step in the right direction".

"That ouvea has been a source of problems in Mataura as you well know, but there has also been stuff stored in Invercargill City," Mr Clark said.

"The fact that they are resolved to resolve that is really great."

Environment Minister David Parker welcomed both the company taking responsibility for the dross around Southland, and its new conciliatory tone.

"With the smelter expected to close by the end of 2024, it is important to ensure these commitments are followed up by action to get the environmental outcomes for Southlanders and the region," he said.

He yesterday released a letter from Rio Tinto chief executive Jakob Stausholm to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern which outlined the steps the company would take.

Mr Stausholm said about 3000 tonnes of ouvea premix remained at Mataura and ongoing removal work would continue until 1500 tonnes remained.

Then in mid-June, once shipping containers from China arrived, the rest would be removed from the site.

Mr Stausholm said the company had already pledged this year to remove all spent cell liner waste, which contains cyanide, from the area upon the smelter’s closure.

Yesterday, he said it would work with Ngai Tahu and the Government to identify other processing methods for both ouvea and spent cell liner waste.

It would implement new technology by the end of the financial year that would get cyanide emissions to a "world class" low level, Mr Stausholm said.

Rio Tinto would fund a $2million shortfall to pay for 23,000 tonnes of ouvea to be processed, he said.

And it would take on the full funding responsibility for the Mataura ouvea ($4million).

"We understand that we have to be better at listening to the communities in which we operate," Mr Stausholm said.

"In New Zealand we did not do a good job of listening to our community regarding the ouvea premix waste, especially the material stored in Mataura and again I apologise for that.

"It did not belong to us, and we did not put it there, but it originally came from our operation and we should have done the right thing by removing the risk it presented to the community.

"We hope these commitments will provide the Government, and our partners and stakeholders, confidence that we take seriously our responsibility to operate and close the site in a responsible and sustainable manner."

Outgoing New Zealand Aluminium Smelters chief executive and general manager Stew Hamilton confirmed the news from the office of the Environment Minister yesterday.

"In the best interests of the community we will remove all of the ouvea premix stored around Southland as well as the material from Mataura, meeting all the costs associated with the removal and processing of the material," he said.

"The material came from our operation and we will take responsibility for it, because it is the right thing to do."

hamish.maclean@odt.co.nz