Mining for Closure: Policies, practises and guidelines for sustainable mining and closure of mines

Further, this document has been produced by the ENVSEC partnership in line with an underlying as- sumption that there is a clear and unequivocal need and an interest from within the subject states in the promotion of flexible solutions to find other econom- ic uses or value in abandoned or orphanedmine sites. However, at no stage has this aimbeen divorced from the broader perspective presented at the opening of this document where it was indicated that operation- al, new and abandoned/orphaned sites would be ap- proached holistically. 83 Moreover, that it is necessary to support the ongoing assessment of transboundary environmental and human safety risks posed by sub- standard mining operations – both active and aban- doned; implementation of risk reduction measures through demonstration at selected sites, evaluation and testing of possible policy changes and trans- boundary cooperation mechanisms.

present guidelines for mining policy development, capacity development and institutional develop- ment that can yield a sustainable mix of social, economic, and environmental outcomes in SEE/ TRB, and to support the ongoing assessment of transbound- ary environmental and human safety risks posed by sub-standard mining operations – both active and abandoned; implementation of risk reduction measures through demonstration at selected sites, evaluation and testing of possible policy changes and transboundary cooperation mechanisms.

As such, as a part of the ENVSEC Initiative, this document has a broader context, namely to:

83. The reader is reminded this initiative intends to influence a) operation of existing and new mining operations in order to ensure and facilitate cost-effective closure that fulfils acceptable sustainability requirements; b) re-mining or otherwise valorising “mining legacy” sites in order to make safe and/or remediate and close them (including finding other uses/economic value from sites);and c) closure, making safe and/or remediation of legacy sites.

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MINING FOR CLOSURE