Man wants to buy a dump to search for the missing $1.6 billion he lost

A man is refusing to give up on his decade-long search for a fortune that was accidentally tossed away by his partner.

The search for a billion dollars worth of bitcoin has taken a messy twist.

James Howells, 39, lost his hard drive, which stored 8000 bitcoins, in 2013 when his partner at the time accidentally threw it away. Today the bitcoin is valued at $A1.6 billion.

Since then, the father-of-three has been embroiled in a battle to retrieve his fortune from the tip at Docks Way in Newport, Wales.

The dump contains 1.4 million tonnes of waste, but Mr Howells believes he has narrowed down the location of the hard drive to an area of 100,000 tonnes.

In a desperate bid to find the priceless tech, the computer engineer petitioned for the right to search the tip.

But a judge threw his case out last month and Newport City Council, who own the tip, revealed part of the site will now be shut down.

Part of the landfill is set to become a solar farm across the next two years.

Now Mr Howells is reportedly looking to make an extreme move: buy the dump site.

James Howells has been searching for the $1.2 billion hard drive for a decade (file image). Picture: iStock

“I would be potentially interested in purchasing the landfill site. I have discussed this option recently with investment partners and it is very much on the table,” he told the BBC.

It comes after his legal bid to force Newport City Council to allow him to access the site at Docks Way in Newport, Wales - or give him compensation - was thrown out by the UK High Court.

Initially, Mr Howells had attempted to work with Newport City Council to retrieve the tech but said “they don’t want to know”.

He added: “It is crazy money that could do so much good for the area.

“The council lives in the dark ages.

“Newport could have looked like Las Vegas or Dubai if they had the foresight to engage but they did not understand cryptocurrency and have refused to learn.

“I would much rather say let’s have a conversation and let’s dig and work together amicably - but they don’t want to know.

“I have continued to try and engage with them and they’ve rejected all communication with us.”

The Docks Way landfill, Newport, Wales. Picture: Robin Drayton/Wiki

James Howells has been searching for the $1.2 billion hard drive for a decade. Picture: Google Maps

Judge Keyser said James had “no realistic prospect of succeeding” on winning his legal case at a trial, as it does “not show any reasonable grounds”.

A council spokesman added: “The landfill has been in exploitation since the early 2000s and is coming to the end of its life, therefore the council is working on a planned closure and capping of the site over the next two years.”

This comes after the dad-of-three took his case to the Cardiff Civil Justice centre at the end of last year.

He even hired lawyers to battle Newport City Council.

But Judge Keyser added James’ mission was akin to looking for a “needle in a haystack” after the hard drive was lost 10 years ago.

In light of the ruling, the computer engineer said: “I feel that my case was not given the proper level of consideration that the value of the asset in question deserved.”

His team had even gone through extensive research on how best to retrieve the drive within environmental guidelines.

“We also have AI experts that have the tech to make the job of finding the needle in the haystack that much easier,” he added.

“I can carry out everything at no cost to the public.”

But Newport City Council said previously: “Newport City Council has been contacted multiple times since 2013 about the possibility of retrieving a piece of IT hardware said to be in our landfill site.

“The council has told Mr. Howells multiple times that excavation is not possible under our environmental permit, and that work of that nature would have a huge negative environmental impact on the surrounding area.

“The council is the only body authorised to carry out operations on the site.

“Mr Howells’s claim has no merit, and the council is vigorously resisting it.”

- with The Sun