Taha Asia Pacific is facing another set of charges relating to incorrectly storing or using toxic material Ouvea premix in Southland.
The material is a hazardous substance left over from the company's aluminum dross recycling process at the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter. Taha plans to establish a factory to process the premix to make mineral fertiliser but is storing it in the meantime.
In the Invercargill District Court on Friday, the Bahrain company and its managing director, Mark Anthony Egginton, faced two charges of discharging a contaminant believed to be Ouvea premix on a farm at Greenhills, Bluff, between August last year and February this year. The charges relate to the material being spread on farm tracks.
Judge Bernadette Farnan remanded both parties to appear again to lodge pleas. Egginton's appearance was excused. On Friday, Taha pleaded guilty to three charges of discharging contaminants at a quarry in Coal Pit Rd, Edendale, last year.
Those Environment Southland charges were laid after concerns from the public about premix being stored there.
The company was remanded for sentencing in the Environment Court at Invercargill on July 14, while Egginton's charges were remanded to June 26.
Identical charges against Taha Fertilizer Ltd were withdrawn. In March, the Environment Court issued an enforcement order requiring Taha to pay $30,745.97 to Environment Southland towards the cost of investigating and cleaning up premix stored at Edendale. The order remains in place irrespective of what happens at sentencing.
