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

regarding voluntary abatement, remediation, and reclamation of orphaned/abandoned mines. Par- ticular emphasis was placed on four approaches: ‘Good Samaritan’ legislation; 77 permit blocking; allocative versus joint and several responsibil- ity; and non-compliance registries. The final report for this work titled “Barriers to Col- laboration: Orphaned/Abandoned Mines in Cana- da” was completed in 2002 (Castrilli, 2002). Funding Approaches – As a key output for this work, a report titled “Potential Funding Approaches for Orphaned/Abandoned Mines in Canada” (Castrilli, 2003) was prepared. The report outlines variety of funding approaches to be considered for the clean up or management of liabilities related to OAMs. Indi- viduals with expertise in this area were surveyed, and the report incorporated their views as well as those of the authors. Advantages and disadvantages of each approach were evaluated and preferred options were recommended for consideration by governments. As part of ongoing work in this area, NOAMI is cur- rently in the process of organising an “Assessing Lia- bilities and Funding Workshop” that shall take place in November 2005 in Ottawa, Canada. 78 Guidelines For Legislative Review – A study is being undertaken to address both the broad application of legislation and policies and the wide spectrum of regulatory agencies that regulate contaminated sites, operating mines, and orphaned and abandoned mine sites in Canada. It involves jurisdictional leg- islative reviews with respect to collaboration, liability and funding to ensure that approaches across juris- dictions are consistent, clear, transparent, coordinat- ed and efficient for orphaned and abandoned mines in Canada. These guidelines are intended to provide a consistent approach to the completion of a review of legislation (acts and regulations) and related poli- cies and practices (such as permitting, licensing and approval processes) that relate to orphaned and abandoned mine sites as well as contaminated and operating sites if there is demonstrated relevancy to legacy issues. The guidelines are set up in the form of a checklist with associated questions, which will be completed during the study. Not least due to their relevance to SEE/TRB juris- dictions, the sections Funding Approaches and Bar- riers to Collaboration are taken up in Sections 5.1.2 and 5.1.3 as examples. • • • •

risdictions are consistent, clear, transparent, coor- dinated and efficient for orphaned and abandoned mines in Canada. A short précis of work in the key programme areas (summarised from Tremblay (2005)) is supplied below. Information Gathering – The principal objective in this area is to develop capacity for a national inven- tory of orphaned and abandoned mine sites based on compatible inventories from each province and territory, and including an acceptable system for categorization and priority ranking. 75,76 Community Involvement – Work in this area has fo- cused on the development of a plan to foster commu- nity involvement in decision-making about closure and reclamation, and to ensure that targeted end-use and reclamation standards are acceptable to local communities. In 2002, case studies related to com- munity involvement were completed for three Cana- dian mine sites, along with experiences in commu- nity involvement at abandoned mines in the United States were completed (See NOAMI (2003b)). The “lessons learned” from these studies were developed into a series of guidelines (11 guiding principles) and published in the pamphlet “Best Practices in Com- munity Involvement” (NOAMI, 2003a). Barriers To Collaboration – In order to assess barri- ers to collaboration, a review was undertaken to ex- amine legislative requirements in Canada and se- lected other international jurisdictions. The study addresses regulatory or institutional barriers, liabil- ity disincentives, and collaborative opportunities 75. In the Canadian study it was also found that there is a great deal to be learnt from experiences in the US. Both this study, and an ear- lier Canadian effort (see Mackasey, W.O. (2000): Abandoned Mines in Canada. www.miningwatch.ca/publications/Mackasey_aban- doned_mines.html) concur that the United States has by far the most advanced inventories dealing with the abandoned mine issue. 76. The reader should note that the European Union has now also released guidelines for creating inventories of mine waste sites. See Appendix B for details of the report EUR21186EN, “Options for compiling an inventory of mining waste sites throughout Eu- rope” edited by S. Sommer. 77. Environmental Good Samaritan legislation in the context of this ENVSEC document refers to legislative measures designed to encourage volunteer reclamation and water pollution abatement by the placing of limits on civil and environmental liability. As an example, such legislation may grant civil and environmental relief to landowners, persons or watershed groups performing reclama- tion and other pollution abatement activities on land and water adversely affected by mining or similar activities. 78. A number of case studies will be featured (i.e. showing how the funds were available/not available; financial-bonding assurance). The plan is to have about 75% of the presentations onmethods used to assess liability and the remaining 25% on funding approaches.

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MINING FOR CLOSURE