Publication Name

MINING FOR CLOSURE

establishment of transboundary notification

and disaster response systems linked to the

parties mentioned above;

establishment of monitoring programmes,

and/or early warning systems for the assess-

ment of ongoing chronic pollution, and for the

detection of pollution events;

capacity building for governmental and regu-

latory actors involved, or to be involved in ac-

tivities such as those listed above.

who should act and who should

participate?

In this text, items related directly to

Mining for Clo-

sure

and broader SEE/TRB mining related issues

are addressed. The key tasks are listed first, the par-

ties who should be involved second.

Mining for Closure

issues

Capacity building within institutional actors such

as governmental regulatory agencies, mines inspec-

torates and so forth

is needed in order to support

legacy management and as preparation for future

mining and minerals processing activities. Such

work could be formulated and coordinated by inter-

national bodies and experts in liaison with national

environmental agencies, and in liaison other key

stakeholders. It could be conducted by consortia of

international experts and academic institutions in

association with national academic institutions.

105

Capacity building within industrial actors such as

miners, mineral processors and their associated in-

dustry bodies

will be required to support manage-

ment of abandoned and orphaned sites and as prep-

aration for future mining and minerals processing

activities. Formulation and conduct as above.

Broader environment and security related issues

Hazard and risk-related uncertainty reduction via fo-

cused information collection

needs to be undertaken.

Such work could be formulated and coordinated by

national environmental agencies in association with

international and national experts, and conducted by

mines inspectorates and national experts.

Management of risks associated with the legacies

of mining and minerals processing activities

is vi-

tal. Such work could be coordinated by national en-

vironmental agencies and transboundary constella-

tions of such agencies; formulated by bodies such

as mines inspectorates, national and international

experts, and academic institutions in association

with key stakeholders, and; conducted by industrial

actors within mining and related branches.

Dialogue with key stakeholders such as national

and international NGOs, affected citizens, and

so forth

will need to be pursued. Dialogue is re-

quired in order to support the conduct of all the

works described above. At the current time, such

work should likely be limited to a focus upon the

specific tasks above. It could be formulated and

coordinated by international bodies and experts in

liaison with national environmental agencies and

academic institutions and conducted by consortia

of international experts and academic institutions

in association with national academic institutions.

when should these actions be

taken?

These items are closely related to those listed

in Section 6.3, as such, implementation of such

frameworks should be undertaken as soon as is

practicable. Again, these are preventative measures

and the costs associated with their implementation

are minor in comparison to the economic, environ-

mental and health related benefits they can yield.

105. Dirk van Zyl of the Mining Life-Cycle Center at the University

of Nevada (personal communication: University of Nevada, 2005,

28 July) notes that lack of capacity is a major barrier to the devel-

opment of a culture of

“Mining for Closure”

or sustainable mining

practices. He calls for concrete actions that can be taken to initiate

the process, and in this regards points to the actions of Peru in the

early 1990s as an example. The first step taken in that country was

for each mine to develop an environmental review (in essence an

“impact assessment”) to identify all the steps that would have to

be taken to bring it up to acceptable environmental performance.

He notes that “community performance” can be added to this. In

Peru, foreign consultants (US or Chilean) performed much of the

initial work but they developed local contacts and associations and

many opened country offices. The mines also had to set a time-

table for implementing all the steps and provide a cost estimate

– a process that could cover more than five years. These first steps

initiated the development of capacity in Peru at all levels: mining

companies, consultants and regulatory personnel. While Peru did

not require closure plans as part of the environmental review, van

Zyl considers it very appropriate to do so if this path is followed

in SEE/TRB. He adds that another approach that may accelerate

the process is to organize a series of short courses through Uni-

versities – a measure that may require initial and intense building

of academic capacity in this regard. Such courses could involve

review the basics and then development of an environmental and

closure plan – with all steps being focused on development of the

culture at that level. Van Zyl stresses that capacity building of in-

country consultants/engineers will be of much more benefit to

developing the a culture of

“Mining for Closure”

than to have for-

eign consultants do the majority of the work.

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