Prioritising risks for rehabilitation from a legacy of mining in Western Australia

Authors: Read, T; Collard, M; Freeman, R

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DOI https://doi.org/10.36487/ACG_repo/2415_69

Cite As:
Read, T, Collard, M & Freeman, R 2024, 'Prioritising risks for rehabilitation from a legacy of mining in Western Australia', in AB Fourie, M Tibbett & G Boggs (eds), Mine Closure 2024: Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Mine Closure, Australian Centre for Geomechanics, Perth, pp. 961-972, https://doi.org/10.36487/ACG_repo/2415_69

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Abstract:
Western Australia has a rich mining history stretching back to the mid-1800s. Thousands of abandoned mine features still exist across the state, including shafts, costeans, large pit voids and constructed landforms. Many of these abandoned mine features have been captured in the Abandoned Mines Inventory. The Abandoned Mines Program (AMP) began in 2015 following the enactment of the Mining Rehabilitation Fund Act 2012 (MRF Act). The AMP develops and implements projects to rehabilitate abandoned mines in Western Australia using funds generated through the MRF. Initially work under the MRF was limited by available funds and only small projects were able to be undertaken to address known risks presented by historic mining operations. As the program has grown in line with available funds it has become apparent that the initial prioritisation framework was focused on significant risks associated with individual features and not specific to project development. Given there are approximately 190,000 abandoned mine features identified on the Abandoned Mines Inventory, a prioritisation methodology is required that enables selection of rehabilitation projects according to the risks presented to the community and the environment. The AMP has undertaken a full revision of the approach to prioritising abandoned mine projects to ensure future projects are appropriately selected by considering a range of criteria and that the prioritisation methodology is robust, repeatable and fully transparent to all AMP stakeholders.

Keywords: abandoned mines, risk assessment, prioritisation, risk management, rehabilitation, mining legacy

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