Publication Name

MINING FOR CLOSURE

States explicitly addressing several of these sub-

jects. In comparison, he indicates that national

legislation in the United Kingdom and state legis-

lation in Australia is in its infancy in addressing

these matters. His overall findings are interesting

in the context of this paper. Not least, as jurisdic-

tions in SEE will be able to follow a considerable

body of work that needs to be addressed.

Overall, however, the current legislative and regu-

latory regime in Canada is at best a patch-work,

at worst indifferent to the problem. In most in-

stances, legislators simply have not turned their

attention to orphaned/abandoned mines to pro-

duce a principled and comprehensive solution

to the problem. Some current laws are broadly

worded in terms of providing regulation-mak-

ing authority that could be a basis for measures

that could facilitate voluntary cleanups without

requiring amendments to existing legislation.

However, the better view may be that both the

Parliament of Canada and provincial legislatures

also will have to speak directly to the problem

(Castrilli, 2002,

p.ii)

A number of the key recommendations from Part

V of the report are provided in Box 5 below for ref-

erence. They include a short list of possible compo-

nents or options for a federal and provincial legis-

lative/regulatory approach to facilitating voluntary

abandoned mine land abatement, remediation,

and reclamation.

5.2

examples for

innovative thinking

The following sections offer examples in order

to spur new ideas and creativity for readers of

this document. They should also serve to dem-

onstrate that options may well be available for

management of abandoned and orphaned mine

sites, or for the ongoing developed land use with

passive or active care that is required to maintain

sites that can never be returned to a self sustain-

ing state. These examples should also be viewed

in the light of the examples provided in previous

sections regarding the securing of funding and

the removal or amelioration of institutional bar-

riers.

5.2.1

alternative site

applications

To provide a firm basis for thinking, a number of

case study examples are briefly documented here.

Important to most of these is that they need to

combine most or all of the following key param-

eters (after Reichardt, 2002):

the use of redundant mining and associated

infrastructure as zero or low cost assets for

new business ventures

the development of business structures and

operations in a way that capitalises on the

characteristics of the redundant infrastructure,

thereby conveying a competitive advantage for

the new business,

the active participation of the mining com-

pany or its agents in the establishment and

commercial stabilization of the new business

along purely commercial lines.

the acceptance by the mining company or par-

ty responsible for the site that such businesses

yield tangible if not immediately quantifiable

benefits.

These first five case studies are taken from a paper

produced by the Manager: Corporate Environmen-

tal Affairs, AngloGold Ltd. in South Africa (Rei-

Box 5

Legislative and regulatory adjustments to sup-

port mine legacy management

after Castrilli (2002)

Amend existing or enact new law that en-

courages volunteers to abate, remediate, and

reclaim abandoned mine lands,

Exempt volunteers from being “responsible

persons” under contaminated site, water

pollution, or related laws as a result of carry-

ing out “good samaritan” remediation,

Establish an abandoned mine reclamation

“good samaritan” permit programme, which

would require permittees to specify reclama-

tion plans and meet certain standards for

cleanup, ensure public participation, and en-

vironment ministry oversight of cleanups,

Require remining operators to implement

strategies that control pollutant releases

and ensure that pollutant discharges during

remining activities are less than the pollutant

levels released from the abandoned site prior

to remining,

Create exemptions from remediation liability

at “historic mine sites”, and

Adoption of collaborative opportunities un-

der federal and provincial environmental and

mining laws in Canada.

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