Wiid, GJ 2006, 'The Role of Closure Planning in the Environmental and Financial Reporting Processes for Mining Operations', in AB Fourie & M Tibbett (eds), Mine Closure 2006: Proceedings of the First International Seminar on Mine Closure, Australian Centre for Geomechanics, Perth, pp. 513-524, https://doi.org/10.36487/ACG_repo/605_44
(https://papers.acg.uwa.edu.au/p/605_44_Wiid/)
Abstract: The mining industry is under increasing pressure to demonstrate its sustainability and adherence to the 
requirements and expectations of the broader society in which it operates.  The importance of sound 
environmental risk management is in turn becoming critical to the management of mining operations.  At the 
same time there is a growing requirement for the disclosure of environmental performance data in a form 
suitable for incorporation into the investment community’s valuation models.  
Against this background, the issue of mine closure is increasingly being viewed as one of the more 
significant problems associated with the mining industry.  This, together with the increasing pressure on 
mining companies to report on their financial performance, presents an opportunity to fundamentally change 
the perception of the environmental management and closure planning functions. 
The paper seeks to summarise recurring themes in criticisms of the environmental reporting and closure 
planning processes and to link these themes to basic concepts of risk management and accounting theory.  
The discussion of risk management and accounting concepts is intended to illustrate in practical terms how 
the closure planning process may be linked to the financial reporting process. 
The paper concludes by outlining how linking the closure planning and financial reporting processes will 
affect the closure planning process.  It is argued that closure plans will increasingly be compiled to the same 
standards prescribed for the bankable feasibility assessments of mining projects themselves.  Should this take 
place, it will allow closure planning and management to play an increasingly significant role in the 
environmental and financial risk management of mining operations.