Questions and Answers

If your property has been identified for testing, you will receive a letter from Port Kembla Copper (PKC) requesting access and describing the proposed testing methods. Contact details to arrange testing are included in the letter and here: Contact.

There are two testing programs being conducted: one in areas of Port Kembla potential contamination of soil and roof dust from past smelting activities is suspected; and a second in areas where only roof dust contamination from the smelter may exist.

If your property has been selected for testing but we don’t hear from you, then we will conduct a home visit to make contact, discuss the proposed testing with you, and confirm whether you would like your property tested. The home visit will be conducted by our environmental consultant, Senversa, who will be conducting the testing program.

The testing of private properties will only occur with the written consent of the owner, and in the case of rented properties, the tenants also need to provide consent. If you agree to having testing conducted at your property, you will be provided with the results and notified whether the remediation of your property for smelter-related contamination is required. The results will also be provided to an independent expert reviewer, the NSW EPA and Wollongong City Council for review and comment.

Testing will be completed by an environmental consulting firm called Senversa. When the Senversa representative arrives at your property on the day of your appointment, they will ask some questions about the history and use of the property to identify the best options for testing.

There are two types of testing that might be conducted: soil and/or dust. The need for testing of one (or both) of these material types at your property will be based on the outcomes of the prior investigation (see the About page).

Soil testing – outdoors

• The Senversa representative and a service location contractor will conduct a short examination to confirm the locations of utilities (e.g. water, sewer electricity, telecommunications) under each property.

• They will then hand drill a number of small holes into the lawn and/or garden beds to about 0.5 m and collect soil samples.

• The sampling locations will have only very small holes (about 10 cm wide).

• They will then backfill the small holes and leave the area as it was before the sample was taken.

Dust testing – indoors

• A ladder will be used to access the roof cavity and obtain dust samples from this space, which will be collected in a jar.

• Indoor areas (such as floors and windowsills) will be wiped with a cloth to take dust samples.

Indoor dust wipe samples are collected to assess whether roof dust and/or soil may be impacting on the indoor parts of your property. If there is no evidence of smelter-related contamination in soil or roof dust, the indoor dust wipe samples will not be tested.

The sampling will take between approximately 4 to 8 hours where soil and dust samples will be collected. If only dust sampling is required, it will take less time.

When the sampling at your property is completed, samples will be sent to an accredited laboratory for analysis. The laboratory results will then be used to assess the concentrations of metals that are present in soil and/or dust at your property and if they are likely to be related to historical smelter emissions.

After results are received, you will be provided with a copy of the testing report for your property. This letter will identity whether smelter-related contamination is present at your property and if remediation is required. The testing report will be reviewed by the independent expert Site Auditor. A copy of the report will be provided to NSW EPA and Wollongong City Council.

The investigation areas (one for soil and roof dust, and one for roof dust only) were established based on the outcomes of detailed research and literature reviews, and testing of more than 1,100 soil and dust samples collected from public open space and select private properties in Port Kembla. This work was commissioned by Port Kembla Copper and completed by environmental consulting firm (Senversa).

If your property is outside of the investigation areas, there is currently no evidence to suggest it contains concentrations of metals resulting from the historical operation of the Port Kembla copper smelter which require further assessment. This finding was reviewed and accepted by an independent expert Site Auditor, NSW EPA, NSW Health, Wollongong City Council.

Detailed reviews of previous research and relevant investigation records, and collection and analysis of more than 1,100 soil and dust samples by Port Kembla Copper’s environmental consultant (Senversa) has been used to identify areas of Port Kembla which could have been contaminated by historical smelter operations. Based on this work, approximately 60 properties are suspected to have smelter-related soil and roof dust contamination. A further approximately 240 properties are suspected to have smelter-related roof dust contamination only.

The investigations commissioned by Port Kembla Copper will seek to confirm the actual number of properties in Port Kembla which have been contaminated by historical smelter operations and to plan subsequent remediation, where required. Investigation and remediation of smelter-related contamination will be provided free of charge by Port Kembla Copper.

If you do not wish to have your property tested, you are under no obligation to do so.

Remediation is the process used to address contamination and ensure a property is safe for ongoing use.

Remediation can include a range of options such as vacuuming of roof cavities, capping or removal of contaminated soil and deep cleaning of indoor areas. Decisions about appropriate remediation options (where required) for each property will be made in consultation with owners and tenants, regulators and an independent expert Site Auditor.

The remediation options applied at each property will be based on individual property test results and owner needs. The type and extent of remediation can be affected by a range of factors including whether soil and / or dust is contaminated, how the property is used and the preferences of the individual landowner.

• You are in an area of Port Kembla where metals from historical smelter-related operations may be present at concentrations which could pose a risk to your health.

• Investigation is necessary to confirm whether these conditions exist at your property.

• We note that there are other sources of metals in Port Kembla, including: lead paint residues, motor vehicle emissions, emissions from other local industry, and filling of land with industrial residues. This means that metals may be present at your property at concentrations which could pose a risk (and require remediation), but which are not associated with historical smelter operations. Port Kembla Copper will not be investigating or remediating metals associated with sources other than the smelter.

The historical operations at the smelter resulted in the emission of metals dust to air, which could have settled on the soil and roof cavity of your property. The metals in soil and roof dust can then enter the indoor parts of your property. Above certain levels, the metals in soil and dust at your property could pose a risk to your health.

• Your property is in a part of Port Kembla where previous investigations indicate roof dust contamination may exist, but not soil contamination. This determination is based on a very large amount of prior work (more than 1,100 tests) completed by Senversa, the University of Wollongong and Macquarie University and has been accepted by EPA and an independent expert auditor.

• If you are concerned, you can contact the EPA which has a soil testing service available to the community. After sampling is complete, you may pass these results onto PKC to determine if historical smelter related contamination may be present. For more information on the EPA’s soil testing, please visit its website. If you have already had testing at your property, Senversa and the Site Auditor can review the results and assess whether there is evidence of historical smelter-related contamination at your property. If there is, PKC will investigate.

• We also note that there are other sources of contamination in Port Kembla, including: lead paint residues, motor vehicle emissions, emissions from other local industry, and filling of land with industrial residues. This means that contamination may be present at your property at concentrations which could pose a risk (and require remediation), but which are not associated with historical smelter operations. PKC will not be investigating or remediating contamination associated with sources other than the smelter.

It will take about 1 day to collect the samples from your property and about 3 months to get you a report – which will be reviewed by the site auditor and EPA prior to release to you. We will also provide you with an interim email update on the results, any interim management measures you should take and whether remediation at your property may be required. An offer to discuss the results of the testing will also be made by Senversa.

If your property is contaminated by historical smelter emissions, we will provide interim management advice and seek to remediate your property as soon as we can. However, this is unlikely to occur before 2026, as funding for remediation will be from the proceeds of the sale of the former smelter – which is due to be completed in early 2026. Once the smelter sale is completed and funds are available, we will contact about scheduling in the work and agreeing on a scope of remediation which is acceptable to you, the EPA and independent expert auditor.

Smelter related contamination in roof dust and soil are sources of smelter-related contamination in indoor dust. Accordingly, remediation of smelter-related soil and roof dust contamination will address future smelter related contamination of indoor dust. At the end of each day, thorough cleaning of access points and indoor areas of the property will occur to remove potentially contaminated soil or dust that may have entered the house. Once remediation activities have been completed, the entire indoor area of the property will be subject to a deep clean to remove any potentially contaminated (or uncontaminated dust) that has been caused by the remediation activities and to eliminate potential risks to occupants and visitors posed by smelter-related contaminated.

Properties with young children will be prioritised for remediation, since they are most susceptible to the harmful effects of metals. However, we will seek to remediate people’s properties as quickly as we can. We expect the entire remediation program will take approximately 2 to 3 years to complete (after investigations have finished)

Yes you can. However, PKC will not be offering investigation and remediation forever. The project is expected to be complete in about 3 years, after which PKC will not be completing further investigation and remediation.

PKC was the last owner and operator of the smelter, and is voluntarily doing the work for the benefit of the community.

Investigation and remediation will only be in areas where there is the potential for exposure of the resident smelter-related metals under the current use of the property. For example, soil under sealed ground or dust in wall cavities or on top of sarking does not pose a risk since there is no feasible way for the resident to be exposed. Therefore, it will not be investigated or remediated. All investigation and remediation proposed and completed by Senversa will be approved by the Site Auditor and provided to the EPA for review.

PKC does not know whether your property is actually contaminated. However, investigations which commenced approximately four years ago indicate your property is in an area of Port Kembla where historical smelter related contamination may be present.

PKC started its investigations in Port Kembla approximately four years ago to assess for potential contamination in soil, indoor dust and roof dust associated with historical airborne smelter emissions. This included review of historical reports, former smelter operations, relevant literature and the preparation of a Site Specific Risk Assessment which recommended further investigations to be carried out. In late 2023, PKC identified areas of Port Kembla where investigation is required to assess for the presence of smelter-related contamination that could present a risk to human health. We started these investigations in 2024 following review by the independent expert site auditor and EPA. If we have requested access to your property, it is within the investigation area where historical smelter related contamination may exist and sampling is required to confirm if your property is actually contaminated.

We recommend that you get the testing done before renovations to ensure you and your contractors can be aware of any risks of contamination and if necessary take precautions to limit potential exposure. Please contact us if you are proposing to do renovations so we can schedule a time to test your property.

Yes, the results will be provided to Wollongong City Council after they have been reviewed and accepted by the site auditor and reviewed by the EPA.