Developing completion criteria for a successful transition to post-mining land use

Completion Criteria Development for Mine Closure Planning

In the mining industry, the development of completion criteria is a necessary part of mine closure planning. It indicates the success of rehabilitation and enables a mining operator to determine when their liability for an area will cease. Our team has a long history of developing completion criteria for various mines across Australia. We’ve contributed best practice advice with our involvement in the Western Australian Biodiversity Institute’s 2019 project titled, ‘A framework for developing mine-site completion criteria in Western Australia.’

In the Pilbara region, we developed quantitative completion criteria by reviewing current and historical rehabilitation monitoring data across our client’s mine sites. We focused on vegetation and erosion parameters to investigate whether the rehabilitated landform was stable, self-sustaining, and compatible with post-mining land uses. After reviewing monitoring data and interrogating it to identify key ecological trends, we produced site-specific criteria.

Effective evidence-based completion criteria helps demonstrate that mine closure activities have been successfully carried out and that environmental risks and health and safety impacts are at an acceptable level.