Explosives, paint and chemicals supplier Orica Ltd. said today that it will have to make a provision of $A63 million in its half yearly results for an environmental cleanup at its site at the Botany Industrial Park, New South Wales.

Orica said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange that the company has taken this decision after studying a report released by environmental consultants on the site in southeast Sydney. In this report Orica found that there were findings of high concentrations of mercury at the Botany location.

Orica said that it had made a provision of $A45 million to clean up mercury contamination at the Botany Industrial Park and another provision of $A18 million towards the repacking of hexachlorobenzene waste stored at the Botany Industrial Park.

Orica said in a filing to ASX that both pretax charges for remediation activities will be recognized as individual material items in the company's financial statements for the six months to March 31, 2010.

Orica also said that this matter had been disclosed previously as a contingent liability in the company's financial statements. The company expects the remediation activity to be completed within the next 12 months.