Mining for Closure: Policies, practises and guidelines for sustainable mining and closure of mines

protect peace and the environment. In the context of this ENVSEC project, this should occur via the collaborative articulation and adoption of policies, practices and guidelines for sustainable mining practices, Mining for Closure , and closure of mines so as to aid the reduction of environment and secu- rity risks in SEE/TRB. This document has the aim: to support the articulation and adoption of policies, practices and guidelines for sustainable mining practices, Mining for Closure and closure of mines for the reduction environment and security risks in South Eastern Europe. This document has the objectives: to present principles, ideas and guidelines for mining policy development, capacity develop- ment and institutional development that can yield a sustainable mix of social, economic, and environmental outcomes in the SEE/TRB region with key foci being: 1.

actions. This was continued with a regional meet- ing in Skopje in 2004 where priorities were con- firmed and further work suggested. This included the assessment of regional cross-border risks from mining and industry, improved management of common river basins (e.g. Tisza, & Sava), and the promotion of nature conservation as a tool to en- courage regional cooperation. Current or planned activities include rehabilitation of most prominent hot-spots (e.g. a feasibility study for closing the Lojane mine in FYR Macedonia) and fostering cooperation in the Tisza and Prespa international basins. Further, and as has been men- tioned, a desk assessment of security risks posed by mining, particularly by residual mining wastes and pollution, was performed during 2004. Among the outstanding environmental, social and economic challenges confronting the mining indus- try and affected communities – that of abandoned and orphaned mine sites 18 has been particularly slow to be tackled. The potential costs of rehabilita- tion on a wide scale, the lack of clearly assigned (or assumed) responsibility, the absence of criteria and standards for rehabilitation, as well as other factors, have delayed action by both the industry and by public authorities. Further, (as has been intimated) that the efforts by international bodies to address this issue and provide guidance to national and in- ternational institutions in their role as stakeholders in mining activities remain insufficient. This im- portant deficiency in international action has seri- ous implications for the SEE/TRB region. The ENVSEC Initiative seeks to facilitate a proc- ess whereby key public decision-makers in South Eastern and Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Cau- casus are able to motivate action to advance and 18. Within this document, abandoned mines are deemed to be those where rehabilitation is incomplete but whose legal owners still exist. Orphaned sites, on the other hand, refer to abandoned mines for which the responsible party no longer exists or cannot be located while idle mining assets refer to abandoned mines that are currently under some form of care and maintenance. 19. At the time of writing, the draft desk-assessment report, titled Reducing Environment & Security Risks fromMining in South Eastern Europe: Desk-assessment study for the Environment and Security Ini- tiative Project and The Rapid Environmental Assessment of the Tisza River Basin is are available via the Environment and Security inita- tive’s web portal at www.envsec.org. why is this document required? 1.3

operation of existing and new mining op- erations in order to ensure and facilitate cost-effective closure that fulfils accept- able sustainability requirements; re-mining or otherwise valorising aban- doned or orphaned sites in order to make safe and/or remediate and close them (including finding other uses/economic value from sites); closure, making safe and/or remediation of abandoned or orphaned sites;

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to support the ongoing assessment of trans- boundary environmental and human safety risks posed by sub-standard mining operations – both active and abandoned; implementation of risk reduction measures through demon- stration at selected sites, evaluation and testing of possible policy changes and transboundary cooperation mechanisms. 1.4 As will be demonstrated throughout this docu- ment, a large number of mining related studies as produced by a large range of social actors – from Government to community interest groups – have underlined the importance of managing a plethora of environmental, social and developmental chal- lenges related to mining activities. Mining legacies challenges identi- fied in previous unep studies 19 2.

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MINING FOR CLOSURE