Standards Australia has formed a technical committee (MN-01) to work with its international partners and develop an ISO best practice guide for mine closure and reclamation. Earlier this year (2017), Environment College Board Member, Michelle North, joined the committee as Engineers Australia’s representative.
There is currently no global standard for mine closure and reclamation management. Despite the site-specific nature of mine closure, there are many principles that can be universally applied to any mine-site to optimise the success of its decommissioning and rehabilitation, such as adopting a progressive approach to closure planning throughout the entire mine life cycle and undertaking ongoing stakeholder consultation.
The MN-012 committee has met in July and September 2017 via phone conference and a committee representative attended the annual ISO meeting for the development of this standard in late September 2017, which was held in Santiago, Chile.
The following organisations are also represented on the committee:
- Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy
- Chamber of Minerals and Energy WA
- Department of Planning and Environment (NSW)
- Department of Primary Industry and Resources (NT)
- Department of State Development, SA
- Environmental Consultants Association (WA)
- Minerals Council of Australia
- NSW Minerals Council
- Queensland Resources Council
- Sustainable Minerals Institute (University of Qld)
- The University of Newcastle.
Engineers Australia encourages its members to participate in the work of Standards Australia’s development and technical committees and values each nominee’s contributions. If you are interested in being involved with future technical committees, please contact the Environment College on [email protected]