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54 MINING FOR CLOSURE
the utilization of the land for periodic and low
effort (anthropogenic input) uses such as graz-
ing and forestry.
Site objectives should transcend environmental qual-
ity criteria to include employment and social out-
comes, as well as long-term resource stewardship.90
Some other potential examples, all based to some
extent upon initiatives that have taken place around
the world are included below:
using remaining site features to create sus-
tainable local level employment over a longer
timeframe – i.e.; new development initiatives
based on land and remnant infrastructure
such as pits and mounds and the extensive
waste deposits on such sites;91
making re-mining operations more attractive
commercially via reduction in taxes and royal-
ties, changes in land tenure laws, and through
reduced legal liabilities for new operations (i.e.
the government assumes some potential future
liabilities itself, as for example in Germany);
subsidies for economically marginal re-mining
operations where this would still be cheaper to
the government than underwriting the com-
plete cost of rehabilitation;
some sites could be opened to artisanal miners
in a controlled fashion, accompanied by, or in
exchange for, assistance with systematic reha-
bilitation;
converting cleaned up sites to high-value land
uses via government zoning changes. Reme-
diation costs can be partially recovered from
future sales of rehabilitated and rezoned land.
Some land could be assigned to selected gov-
ernment uses;
site conversion to local agro-forestry or non-
food crops;
redevelopment for and operation of old sites as
‘biosphere reserves’ or equivalent to add to the
national inventory of natural areas (in many
places abandoned sites are known to be a ref-
uge for certain endangered species);
redevelopment of sites that may also have tour-
ism potential;92
special partnerships with other natural resource
utilization stakeholders (examples include a US
trout fishing association taking on rehabilita-
tion of streams affected by acid drainage).93
The above ideas are intended to illustrate that there
do exist other options than simply cleaning-up and
rehabilitating at high cost. However, it is clear that
not all sites would be amenable to the above, and
indeed some experiences in other countries have
shown that it is “easier said than done” to create
economic activity on former mining sites.
One early task is to study the conditions under which
such scenarios would be feasible, and what commu-
nity benefits can be expected. The options will be
country and location specific. For example, impover-
ished regions with a large pool of unemployed and
untrained people will have different possibilities than
are available for sites in developed countries with so-
phisticated technologies, high labour costs and very
high environmental expectations. An important
change is to evaluate the potential of an abandoned
site for local development opportunities rather than
only in terms of the output of global commodities. In
other words, just as the site objectives need to go be-
yond “clean-up”, so the development potential needs
to consider aspects at the local level.
The situation is potentially applicable to a large
number of developing countries and in economies
in transition. Some recent international meetings
on mining policy showed a surprising degree of
interest in this problem, and called for further ac-
tion by the UN to help address this issue (Balkau,
2005a, 2005b).
Further, and as indicated in Section 4.2.2, there
are a range of challenges to be overcome related to
information, community involvement, and legisla-
tive barriers to collaboration that add to this. Hav-
ing raised these issues, it appears of value to briefly
take up the findings of a deal of the Canadian work
conducted in that area. Among other things, these
can serve as examples of: measures that may aid in
the generation of funds for management of aban-
doned and orphaned sites; measures that need to
90. A suggestion of relevance to this discussion, for one site at
least, received from is the formation of a regional research facility
at an abandoned mine site where regionally appropriate technolo-
gies can be developed and (personal communication: University
of Nevada, 2005, 28 July).
91. Utilisation of voids and/or underground workings for novel
value added applications such as fish farming (voids) and mush-
room growing (tunnels) are examples.
92. See the Eden Project as a landmark example http://www.
In Canada, “Butchart Gardens” represents a
successful rehabilitation of an open limestone quarry that was
converted to an internationally renowned garden. Most remark-
able is that this project was undertaken nearly 100 years ago. See
93. See examples within the US based Trout Unlimited’s
homepage .
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