Slatch, AK 2022, 'Suggesting landscape as a framework for mine closure of abandoned opencast mines based on understanding global practices, standards and vision', in AB Fourie, M Tibbett & G Boggs (eds), Mine Closure 2022: Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Mine Closure, Australian Centre for Geomechanics, Perth, pp. 589-600, https://doi.org/10.36487/ACG_repo/2215_41
(https://papers.acg.uwa.edu.au/p/2215_41_Slatch/)
Abstract: Mine closure practices, through the small history of its existence, have evolved and gained a strong understanding of the profession of landscape architecture (Baida et al. 2014). Standards on mine closure from organisations such as the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) since 2008 and the recent International Organization for Standardization (ISO) guidance book have been updated and revised to follow the Sustainable Development Goals. Future vision on mine closure by the World Bank since 2018 specifies the need for “Achieving a Just Transition for All”, with key lessons based on policy-strategy development, people and communities, and land and environmental remediation.
Yet mine closure standards and vision based on landscape as an important framework have not been explored or highlighted, despite vocabulary such as landscape restoration, land reclamation, etc., in use when discussing solutions for mine closure (Ignatyeva et al. 2020) and, specifically, opencast abandoned mine sites that have both a physical and environmental impact, such as altered landscape, unproductive and contaminated land, steep and erodible slopes, abandoned mine waste disposal facilities, changes in surface and subsurface water regimes, subsidence, etc. (Bennett 2016; Peck 2005).
The paper will review mine closure practices from the Global North and South, along with the standards and visions of mine closure through the lens of landscape. The paper will raise questions pertinent to the need of a landscape framework as new knowledge, which will be essential in meeting the vision of a Just Transition.

Keywords: opencast mines, mine closure, landscape framework, Just Transition