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

Similarly, within the immediately coming years there is some urgency to establish a number of ac- tivities to progress rehabilitation or risk ameliora- tion at abandoned and orphaned mine sites. These next steps can be read in the context of flagship pi- lot remediation projects for learning. Inventorise & prioritise amongst abandoned and orphaned sites in order to ensure the best use of public and private funds. It is unavoidable that this will require the building of detail inventories of mining activities and mine related sites in National jurisdictions. These will need to be filled with sa- lient content such as complete details of current ownership and activity status for identified sites; assessment of the legal status of abandoned/or- phaned mines; geographical detail such as relation- ship to watershed boundaries; basic engineering and infrastructural parameters and so forth. Explore the potential of partnerships (including trans-national partnerships) for remediation of or- phan and abandoned mining sites that focus on the creation of future economic and social values in the context of a healthy environment and involve both the public and private sectors. Test & experiment with different forms of partner- ship and innovative, flexible and forgiving frame- works for indemnification against potential liabilities in the first “case study site” rehabilitation projects. In closing this report, a finding regarding the un- derstanding of the process of risk reduction in the South Eastern European context from the parallel desk-assessment report is cited. This comment, clearly calling for pilot projects, for a focus upon data collection and capacity building needs, and highlights the need for learning. These calls are deemed as valid now in this document’s context as they were there.

Pursuant to activities of the type listed above, it is considered that pilot projects in risk reduction that target specific sites in a number of countries have the potential to provide significant tangible ben- efit. While work towards the amelioration of risks at individual sites is likely to yield environmental, social, developmental and regional security ben- efit, the prime benefit of any pilot activity should sought in the area of learning for future work. For example, the desk study indicates that better un- derstanding in many areas is required. Examples of such areas are: the challenges facing transboundary working groups (inter alia: cross border movement, geographical jurisdiction, sharing and com- patibility of data, accountability, funding of activities, and so forth and so on); the manner in which gaps in legislative frameworks affect management of sites; how lack of institutional capacity limit progress with the management of trans- boundary risks; how general resource deficiencies (finance, equipment, technical capacity and so forth) place restraints on execution of works; pathways for stakeholder consultation that function best; models for industry/community cooperation that function best; technical knowledge gaps that prove most critical for success; models for financing risk amelioration; The scoping of any pilot projects within the region should take place pursuant to activities focused upon data collection and capacity building needs. Proposals to undertake such projects, and the de- termination of the specific objectives of any such projects can only take place if the desire to under- take such is expressed by representatives of the af- fected countries. • • • • • • • •

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MINING FOR CLOSURE