The Role of Closure Planning in the Environmental and Financial Reporting Processes for Mining Operations

Authors: Wiid, GJ Paper is not available for download Contact Us

DOI https://doi.org/10.36487/ACG_repo/605_44

Cite As:
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



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.

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