Tiwai doubles cleanup funds

The owners of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter have nearly doubled the provision that the smelter has made in its accounts for closing and cleaning-up the smelter to $687 million. The increase in the provision, from $352m, appears an olive branch to the Government and community groups which have previously voiced concerns about their commitment to a full clean-up. It has also had the effect of reducing the bumper profit that the smelter’s owners would otherwise have booked for the year, as they await what are expected to be tough negotiations with the smelter’s major power supplier, Meridian Energy, over the price it will have to pay for electricity to stay open beyond 2024. Pacific Aluminium – the holding company for mining giant Rio Tinto’s majority stake in the smelter – nevertheless posted an ‘‘underlying profit’’ of $140m for the year to the end of December, turning around a $100m underlying loss the previous year.