Rio Tinto ‘sorry’ for its environmental failings
Rio Tinto’s global chief executive flew to Wellington earlier this month to apologise to the Government for its handling of waste from the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter and to make commitments around the clean-up task.
Environment Minister David Parker yesterday published a letter that Rio Tinto’s chief executive, Jakob Stausholm, sent to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, which formalised the apology and set out clean-up plans.
“We understand that we have to be better at listening to the communities in which we operate,” Stausholm wrote in the letter, dated yesterday.
“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.” Early in 2020, hundreds of residents of Mataura in Southland were forced to evacuate amid fears flooding would come into contact with the 9500 tonnes of ouvea premix from Tiwai, which contractors had stored in the town’s former paper mill.
Some of the waste remains at Mataura, although Stausholm’s letter spelled out a plan for its removal one of a series of cleanup commitments, including promises to remove waste from Tiwai Point and the results from the testing of the ground at the site.
This included taking over the Crown’s costs for removing the ouvea premix from Mataura, and later from other buildings in Southland, making other changes to its processes to reduce cyanide emissions from Tiwai Point and sharing ground samples with the Government, the Ministry for the Environment and Ngai Tahu.
“I will continue to closely monitor progress in NZ to ensure that we fully re-align the efforts and engagement to address your concerns,” Stausholm wrote.
“I am committed to rebuilding an ongoing collaborative and positive working relationship with the New Zealand Government.” The Government welcomed the move.
“It’s taken a long time to get to this point, but we welcome this commitment and the more conciliatory and open stance NZAS (New Zealand’s Aluminium Smelter) has taken in recent months,” Parker said.
“We also welcome the acknowledgment by NZAS of its responsibilities and how its environmental performance disappointed the Government and the community of Southland. With the smelter expected to close by the end of 2024, it’s important to ensure these commitments are followed up by action to get the environmental outcomes for Southlanders and the region.” In a statement, a spokeswoman for Rio Tinto confirmed it would remove the material from around Southland and meet the cost of doing so. “The material came from our operation and we will take responsibility for it, because it is the right thing to do,” the spokeswoman said.
Ngai Tahu welcomed the news. “Our local jobs and economy are dependent on our environment and environmental degradation would be a long-term threat to employment and incomes in our region,” Ngai Tahu spokesman Terry Nicholas said.
“We look forward to Rio Tinto keeping their word.”
Posted: 31 May 2021