Fire investigators are trying to establish how some 400 tonnes of molten metal came to spill out of a steel mill south of Auckland last night.
Twelve fire trucks were called to the Glenbrook Steel Mill on Mission Bush Rd near Waiuku at about 10.40pm, northern fire communications shift manager Scott Osmond said.
Firefighters built up a dam out of soil to stop the flow of piping-hot liquid metal from spreading to other buildings.
They managed to contain and cool it in a couple of hours, Mr Osmond said.
The incident happened at the mill's melting plant where sand is melted to make steel.
