Planning for closure is fundamental to the responsible operation of any mining company with closure integrating across a number of aspects including health and safety, environment, local economic impacts and external/community relations and financial. A key element of this process is to engage early with the community and relevant stakeholders in the planning of the project including closure. For Newmont to contribute positively to a mining project development and build the wealth of its shareholders and reputation within the communities in which is operates, closure objectives and impacts are ideally considered from the very inception of a project right through to the relinquishment of the mineral tenement. Projects in the planning phase have a strong opportunity for reducing potential liabilities and maximising sustainable closure options. Projects in the middle of their operating life have slightly less opportunities, and projects close to the end of the life cycle have more limited options for addressing closure issues and impacts with sustainable solutions. Planning is required to enable a company to be adequately prepared and resourced for mine closure at any time.
Dowd, P. & Slight, M. (2006). The business case for effective mine closure. In A. B. Fourie & M. Tibbett (Eds.), Proceedings of the First International Conference on Mine Closure. Australian Centre for Geomechanics, Perth (pp. 3-11).