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

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, 70 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.

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). 69 “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.

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MINING FOR CLOSURE