Mine site rehabilitation worldwide has been evolving from a strictly environmental program to a more social undertaking – but remote operations in Australia are still playing catch-up to the global trend.

As a result of Australia’s skewed population-to-land ratio, the country’s rehabilitation focus has been on defaulting mined-out areas to their pre-existing natural state rather than pursuing sequential, or re-envisioned, land use.

However, as larger communities spring up on the outskirts of otherwise distant mining operations, the popularity of a perfectly restored red desert after the jobs leave town is beginning to wane.

Simply put, even a pristine national park isn’t necessarily the best use of a former mine site.

Although it’s no secret that a strategy of sequential land use can be a powerful tool in maximising value in a closure program, the culture of informing rehabilitation plans with input from future stakeholders has yet to be firmly established within in the industry.

Adding more chefs to the mine plan kitchen can seem like an unpalatable expense, but as logic dictates, the more robust the data is in the early stages, the more sound the overall investment will be.

Initial planning, as it seems, is once again where everything goes either right or wrong.

To understand how proactive pre-feasibility work can improve rehabilitation success, Longwalls sister publication MiningNewsPremium.net spoke with AECOM Australia associate director Dee Murdoch.

Murdoch will be representing the technical services consultancy at the Mine Rehabilitation and Closure Planning conference next month in Brisbane, and says failing to integrate stakeholders early on can result in excessive closure costs.

“The expenses generally come from having to rework the science and re-find solutions to the problems in the latter part of the mine life,” she said.

“Then you’ve got to put fleets of bulldozers out to reshape the landform because you got the drainage lines wrong – that’s when the expenses really start coming into play.

“The mines that are facing high levels of security deposits and other commitments to agencies and communities are those that have not planned well for post-mining land use.

“The ones that get it right engage with the community and other relevant stakeholders early on.”

Murdoch’s list of relevant stakeholders may include a few surprises to mining companies.

Critical relationships to establish in rehabilitation planning include any local groups that know the land, farmers’ associations, environmental lobby groups and even high-school teenagers.

“That might sound unusual but they are the ones who will be inheriting the legacy,” Murdoch said.

“Some of the stakeholders to be engaged with may be seen to be the nemesis of the mining operation, but in fact, they’re often the ones who encourage the mining operation to think outside the square.

“Rather than just putting it back to a patch of pasture, could we build a golf course here and link it to some sort of tourism which would support the local economy?”

As with any closure process, the challenge in sequential rehabilitation lies in striking a balance between flexibility and plan-based certainty.

Engagement with community groups, researchers and local industries is helpful in exposing unexpected rehabilitation potential, but investors will also demand managed risk and liability through control of quantifiable targets.

With this in mind, expanding communication with local stakeholders is also essential for establishing baseline monitoring parameters and aligning them back to the closure plan’s original goals.

Essentially this means miners, in many instances, are going to be increasingly obliged to get into the cattle business, the winemaking business, the amusement park business or anywhere their neighbouring communities nudge them.

In most cases, effective rehabilitation plans will be informed by agricultural users with recordkeeping and baseline monitoring focused on factors such as livestock carrying capacity, grain media and stocking rates.

Geochemical forensic studies, meanwhile, may have nearly as much to do with supporting a Bordeaux-style vineyard as managing mine waste and water legacy issues.

Thankfully, the challenge of ensuring adequate communication with this ever-widening cast of players has coincided with the diffusion of the internet and social media outlets.

Tools such as Facebook, Twitter, blog-sites and various online forums allow resource companies to initiate crucial relationships with a wide range of locals in the most transparent way possible.

Everything goes up, cross-pollinates and gets digested in real time – the ultimate pre-feasibility town meeting.

Murdoch saidthis virtual venue represented an enormous consulting opportunity for mining companies and a crucial step in maximising a project’s conceptual and economic success.

“You need big thinkers and people who are not afraid to push the boundaries,” she said.

“If you do it right at the beginning, you save money at the end.”