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

Long-term financed – Where conditions requiring long-term care exist, the funding of long-term care and management should be included in assurance. However, government legislation should explic- itly provide that at a certain moment the company could be relieved of future liabilities for the site. Temporally bounded – Where long-term care is in- volved, the operator should be responsible to pro- vide it until relieved of liability, but amenable tem- poral bounds of such liability should be included in agreements. This requires that care be long-term financed. Low hazard and viable – Viable, rather than only self-sustaining ecosystems, that are compatible with a healthy environment and with human activi- ties and are low hazard should be left post-mining. Measures to address and prevent ongoing pollution from the site should be in place. Considered and flexible – The target condition of a mining site should be carefully considered in the light of long-term environmental stability but not in the absence of social and economic uses that can contribute to making it safe. All encompassing requirements to return a site to its original condi- tion or to a condition permitting a maximum range of land uses may be inappropriate. Jurisdictions should be flexible in devising solutions that match site-specific needs in terms of the types of mining operation, climate, topography, the sensitivity of the surrounding environment, and social require- ments, and which deliver outcomes consistent with sustainable development principles and objectives Synergistic – Synergies between actors, particularly actors with the capacity to provide rehabilitation service at lowest cost, should be pursued. This may be achieved by providing incentives for the current industrial actors to provide expertise, equipment, supplies and personnel to support government funding in addressing legacies. Elastic – Innovative, flexible and forgiving frame- works for indemnification against potential liabili- ties should be sought, particularly in situations where this may provide the necessary incentives for multi-stakeholder participation in reclamation/ rehabilitation works. Reasonable – There must be recognition that insist- ence upon on protection against extremely unlikely events will impose excessive costs and as a conse-

exploitation, and National agencies responsible for environmental quality in their work of building the foundations for good mining policy and admin- istration. Further, such stakeholders can use this document to help inform their own expectations for practice and to stimulate innovation and crea- tion of solutions tailored to their own circumstance (as is discussed earlier in this document, a number of the practices or investments required elsewhere will not suffice here, nor can they all be afforded). This final discussion will consist of two parts. The first will list a number of guiding principles for mining policy development work. The second will outline a number of steps that need to be taken in the near future. 6.6.1 a codification of principles Pursuant to the experiences from around the world as documented in this discussion, this section will summarise a set of guiding principles. These can be used to guide the management of existing and new mining operations so that acceptable sustain- ability requirements and cost effective closure can be achieved. Further, these can be used to support work with abandoned and orphaned mining sites in order to make them safe and/or remediate, and close them. It should be noted that the items listed below should be seen as congruent and synergistic and not exclusive (e.g. such as strict versus flexible). Consistent – Mine closure requirements and proce- dures should be consistent with those in place in other territories of the region. This is particularly important where two countries share trans-boundary risks. Centralised – Governments should strive for an independent mine closure law that establishes a single agency for implementation. Strict – Legislation should apply the polluter pays principle strictly and should ensure that the owner or operator of a mining operation is responsible for execution and completion of successful reclamation. Financially assured – Legislation should provide that (particularly for new operations and operations with considerable lifespan remaining) financial assur- ance is provided to ensure successful reclamation. In order to Mine for Closure , jurisdictions, policies and work approaches should be:

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MINING FOR CLOSURE