Publication Name

MINING FOR CLOSURE

This document aims to present a basis for action

within South Eastern Europe (SEE) and within the

Tisza River Basin (TRB) towards the development

of corporate practice, regulatory frameworks, gov-

ernance guidelines and/or financial and insurance

markets suitable for the support of a modern min-

ing industry. In particular, this document wishes

to present a number of options and ideas that can

be applied to address the funding and execution

of mine closure and mine rehabilitation while still

achieving conditions suitable for new and ongoing

mining activities.

It is perceived by the Environment and Security

(ENVSEC) Initiative partners that the efforts by in-

ternational bodies to address this issue and provide

guidance to national and international institutions

in their role as stakeholders in mining activities re-

main insufficient. This important deficiency in in-

ternational action has serious implications for the

SEE/TRB region.

As part of this process the draft document was

launched at the

Sub-regional Conference on “Reduc-

ing Environment and Security Risks from Mining

in South Eastern Europe and the Tisza River Basin

(TRB)”

conducted in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 11-14

May 2005.

The sub-regional conference drew high-level par-

ticipation of Mr. Klaus Toepfer, UNEP Executive

Director, Mrs. Sulfina Barbu, Minister of Environ-

ment and Water Management of Romania, and

Mr. Miklos Persanyi, Minister of Environment and

Water of Hungary. It was attended by representa-

tives from a range of countries and jurisdictions

including: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bul-

garia, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedo-

nia, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro and Kosovo

(territory under UN administration), Romania, the

Slovak Republic, and Hungary.

The objective of the Conference was to draw up

an action programme to reduce environment and

security risks from mining in the region, includ-

ing further assessment and pilot projects at high-

risk sites, and endorse guidelines for sustainable

mining and closure of mines. The event concluded

with the signing of Declaration of the High-Level

Panel of the Sub-regional Conference included as

Appendix A to this report.

The declaration welcomes the Environment and

Security Desk Assessment Study

“Reducing Envi-

ronment and Security Risks from Mining in South

Eastern Europe”

(Peck, 2004) and the UNEP report

“Environmental Assessment of the Tisza River Basin”

(Burnod-Requia, 2004) as a basis for priority set-

ting and action planning towards reducing and

mitigating the environmental, health and security

risks from mining in South Eastern Europe and

the Tisza River Basin. Further, it welcomes and en-

dorses this document – the Environment and Se-

curity report

“Mining for Closure: policies, practices

and guidelines for sustainable mining and closure of

mines in South Eastern Europe and the Tisza River

Basin”

– as a guide and checklist for reducing and

mitigating the environmental, health and security

risks from mining practices.

This document has the following form: Section

1 of this document seeks to outline the challenge

and the need for this work; Section 2 is then used

to establish the rationale for best environmental

practice in mining – or

Mining for Closure

as it will

be termed here; Section 3 the outlines the impor-

tant stakeholders in mining and a manner of as-

sessing their relative salience; Section 4 provides

a discussion of the mechanics of mine closure and

abandonment; Section 5 then presents a summary

framework or principles for mining in SEE/TRB

and delineates the next steps forward.

1.1

introduction

Increasing expectations for environmental pro-

tection, desires for reduced human health risks,

competition for land, and the increasing value of

the natural environment as recreational space have

led to marked improvements in regulatory require-

ments and mining practice in a number of coun-

tries. Many miners have introduced management

policies, practices and technologies that markedly

reduce the environmental harm caused by mining

(Environment Australia, 2002b; Gammon, 2002;

environment, security and mining

for closure