Publication Name

MINING FOR CLOSURE

While the numbers can be supposed to be substan-

tial, fortunately not all sites will be problematical

when viewed from environmental, health and safe-

ty or social viewpoints. A sense of the likely pro-

portion is provided in the following excerpt from

UNEP (2001) by George Stone of the United States

Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

“The Bureau has estimated that there are between

100,000 and 500,000+ small and midsize aban-

doned hard rock mines in the west. Most sites are

not posing problems. Of those that are, 25 per cent

relate to health and safety matters and 5 per cent to

environment, primarily issues of water pollution.

There are some 13,000 abandoned coal mines,

mostly small and mid-sized in the east. These are

causing mainly health and safety problems.”

This summary of the US situation provides some

useful insight into the relative percentage risk

types. It is likely that similar ratios will be experi-

enced in SEE and the TRB.

If remediation is examined, it becomes clear that

while some of the more high-profile sites are being

remediated and pollution is being treated, this is tak-

ing place in only a few countries – and generally in

wealthy mining countries such as Australia, Canada,

Germany and the US. Most sites around the world

receive no attention, and many are not secure.

Although the problem is clearly of global scale,

the enormous financial liability embedded in any

systematic rehabilitation programme constitutes a

major disincentive for the association of economic

actors with orphaned and abandoned mine sites.

Even a small percentage of the total cost burden – if

it were to be legally attributed – could cripple the

target body. Attempts to assign responsibility to the

mining sector are met with the response that it was

not the present companies that caused the problem,

the government has had the benefit of the taxes and

royalties from the past activity and as a result, the

government should now look after the consequenc-

es. The lack of current legal owners of old sites thus

seems to place the accountability in the government

arena. However few governments have the resourc-

es or the expertise to take on physical and financial

responsibility for dealing with such orphaned sites.

The approach of trying to find a guilty party is ulti-

mately sterile for a very practical reason – the global

(and often even national) problem is beyond any

single actor’s financial or organizational resources

to solve alone in a conventional manner.

It is clear that a new approach is required to find

more innovative solutions. Further, a recent interna-

tional mining initiative (Post Mining Alliance, 2005)

holds that at the international level, a series of recent

political developments support the timeliness of the

idea. They indicate that the management response

to the recent Extractive Industries Review at the

World Bank Group, the proposed Intergovernmen-

tal Forum of Governments on Mining/Metals and

Sustainable Development and revisions to EU mine

waste legislation, all call for more attention to be

paid to who can, and how to, address the challenges

of post-mining communities and landscapes.

4.2.1

an international post

mining alliance

In the light of such developments, a brief examina-

tion of the proposed approach for an international

body intending to contribute to progress is under-

taken in this section. This will then be followed by

examination of parts of an ongoing Canadian pro-

gramme. While the latter focuses upon national

challenges, most of the items addressed are of di-

rect relevance in an international context.

Box 3 detailing the recent launching of the PMA,

an international body intending to contribute to

progress is presented below. It can be seen that

many of the issues highlighted thus far in this re-

port are given attention.

Taking the concept related above as being repre-

sentative of international calls in this regard,

the

content of such an initiative can be examined for its

contribution to areas where behaviour of key stake-

holders can be influenced. Key areas addressed

69. Albeit, first some idea of the number of “problematical” sites

must be obtained. While the first citation above does indicate that

this could be as high as 25%, this can only be seen as specula-

tive. If that were the case, then one might expect some 5-10% of

sites to pose health and safety risks, and some 1-2% of sites to be

problematical with regards environment. Note however, that the

“area” where mining activities have taken place may contain very

many individual “sites”.

70. A reasonable presumption at the time of writing as the PMA

has initial partners that include the Eden Project, Rio Tinto, Anglo

American, English Partnerships, English Nature, Imerys and the

Mineral Industry Research Organisation and is seeking partner-

ship with other multinational mining companies, the Interna-

tional Council on Mining and Metals, NGOs including the WWF,

IUCN, Conservation International, Earthworks and development

aid groups. Further, it has sought active input from intergovern-

mental bodies such as the World Bank Group, the United Nations

Environment Programme and representatives from the US Envi-

ronmental Protection Agency in its early planning work.