Toxic chemicals leaking at Hamilton factory site

By ELIZABETH BINNING

An emergency cleanup is underway in Hamilton where nearly 30,000 litres of potentially dangerous chemicals have been found at the back of an old factory.

The chemicals, sodium cyanide and chromic acid, were stored in 200-litre drums, but the containers have started to perish and the toxic liquid is seeping into the ground.

Yesterday, regional authorities, health officials and Occupational Safety and Health staff gathered at the Frankton factory formerly occupied by an electroplating company to assess the danger.

Hamilton City spokesman Graeme Fleming said the chemicals posed no immediate health risk but there was concern about the way they were stored and the potential for a spillage.

If the chemicals mixed or caught fire they would release a highly toxic and poisonous gas which was harmful to humans and could enter waterways.

Mr Fleming said the council had hoped to remove the drums immediately but they were too unstable to move.

"We thought that we could probably move the drums intact but we don't want to take the risk.

"We are just not confident that there wouldn't be some form of spillage."

Special containers have been brought down from Auckland so the fragile drums can be safely removed from the factory and taken to a temporary holding area.

It is not known how long the drums have been stored at the site. The electroplating company was in the process of being sold and the council has been unable to contact the former owner, a Hamilton man, who is overseas.

The authorities were alerted to the situation by potential buyers of the business, who discovered the abandoned drums at the back of the factory.

Sodium cyanide and chromic acid are used during the electroplating process but should have been removed from the site once their shelf life expired.

Instead, dozens of the blue drums, most of which are made from plastic, have been stored at the back and side of the building and some have begun to deteriorate with age.

Mr Fleming said tests would be done once the drums had been removed to establish how much of the chemicals had seeped into the ground and what, if any, effect they had had.

The Fire Service and Medical Officer of Health have also been notified as a precaution, but neither group is actively involved in the cleanup or soil testing at this stage.

Because the factory is private property and fenced off, warning signs would not be posted around the contaminated site.