This report is intended as a checklist and guidebook on best practices related to mining. It aims to present a basis for action within South Eastern Europe and the Tisza River Basin towards the development of regulatory frameworks and governance guidelines suitable for the support of a modern mining industry in the region. In particular, the report seeks to present a number of options and ideas that can be applied to address the funding and execution of mine closure and mine rehabilitation while still achieving social and economic conditions suitable for new and ongoing mining activities.
Mining is basically an intermediate use of land and it causes various impacts on all the components of environment. In most situations the impacts on land are severe and may cause the land to become useless for any economic use after mining. Since, the mining companies take land areas which have been in various uses before the onset of mining activities it should have been obligatory for the companies to develop the land areas for uses most suitable for the economic activities after mining. Though this was known right from the inception of the mining activities the efforts towards developing the land after mining were negligible. This has resulted in devastation of mined out land in many locations in the country. Keeping in view the importance and the necessity of development of land areas legislation have been formulated for mine closure. The legislation are recent not many mines have been closed in accordance with the provisions therein. A lot of work is still required to be done to make mine closure really effective. All over the world the importance of the mine closure is being realized due mainly to the following reasons. Closure planning at all the stages in a mine's life is important to the economics of a mine and such a planning results in a large cost savings. In this book the following aspects of mine closure planning and implementation in the opencast and underground mines, with special reference to the mining situations in the India, have been outlined. 1. Impacts of mining on environmental components and their roles in mine closure planning; 2. Legal, social and economic necessity of mine closure; 3. Land use planning as a tool for mine closure planning and implementation; 4. How to incorporate mine closure in mine planning; 5. Mine closure planning in underground and opencast mines; 6. Implications of mine fires in mine closure; 7. Mine closure planning for small mines; 8. Taking care of the abandoned mines, i.e., closure of abandoned mines; 9. Economics of mine closure; 10. Management of ecology during mine closure. The book is expected to be useful to the practical mining engineers and environmen- talists in mine planning and design. It should also be useful to the researchers and students of mining and environment.
The current discourse on mine closure is informed predominantly by industry and corporate perspectives and predicated by experiences of mainly mining companies that are based in developed countries where necessary planning frameworks and regulatory requirements are well-established. Mine closure planning, well promoted and accepted as good business practice in the global minerals industry, has been primarily technical and precautionary both in approach and focus. Planning, modelling and monitoring strategies incorporate comprehensive and detailed elements such as properties inherent in landforms, climate, geology, flora and fauna, among others. However, locality-based concerns that revolve around resource access and tenure, rights and entitlements tied to locality and indigeneity, labour recruitment, and other non-bio-physical elements are hardly examined. Any mine closure program that omits these elements is deficient and therefore ineffective. Social Terrains of Mine Closure in the Philippines, based on ethnographic research and archival materials, presents the varying experiences of three mines to demonstrate that the mine closure process is an intense locus for competition and compromises among various social actors. This book offers key messages for understanding the complex socio-cultural, economic, political, and business realities that make up the social terrains of mine closure, and will be of great interest to students and researchers in development studies, community development, business studies, anthropology, and sociology. It will also appeal to those working in the global minerals sectors and NGOs that engage in development work and advocacy for responsible mining.
No one personified the age of industry more than the miners. The Shadow of the Mine tells the story of King Coal in its heyday – and what happened to mining communities after the last pits closed. The Shadow of the Mine tells the story of King Coal in its heyday, the heroics and betrayals of the Miners’ Strike, and what happened to mining communities after the last pits closed. No one personified the age of industry more than the miners. Coal was central to the British economy, powering its factories and railways. It carried political weight, too. In the eighties the miners risked everything in a year-long strike against Thatcher’s shutdowns. Their defeat doomed a way of life. The lingering sense of abandonment in former mining communities would be difficult to overstate. Yet recent electoral politics has revolved around the coalfield constituencies in Labour’s Red Wall. Huw Beynon and Ray Hudson draw on decades of research to chronicle these momentous changes through the words of the people who lived through them. This edition includes a new postscript on why Thatcher’s war on the miners wasn’t good for green politics. ‘Excellent’ NEW STATESMAN ‘Brilliant’ TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT ‘Enlightening’ GUARDIAN
The Mining For Closure report aims to present a basis for action within South Eastern Europe (SEE) and the Tisza River Basin (TRB) - covering the Balkan region, Bulgaria, Romania, the Slovak Republic and Hungary - towards the development of corporate practice, regulatory frameworks, governance guidelines and/or financial and insurance markets suitable for the support of a modern mining industry in the region. The book recommends integrated mine planning where a mine closure plan should be an integral part of a project life cycle and be designed to ensure that: future public health and safety are not compromised; environmental resources are not subject to physical and chemical deterioration; the after-use of the site is beneficial and sustainable in the long term; any adverse socio-economic impacts are minimized and socio-economic benefits are maximized. In addition, there is a great interest in the legacies of the past - and how to deal with them. Although the report deals with a particular area, the ideas are intended to be generic.
This book addresses the processes related to mine abandonment from a hydrogeological perspective and provides a comprehensive presentation of water management and innovative tracer techniques for flooded mines. After an introduction to the relevant hydrogeochemical processes the book gives detailed information about mine closure procedures. The book also includes case studies and hints, and some new methodologies for conducting tracer tests in flooded mines.
Unsurpassed in the scope of its coverage, this book explores like no other the roles of policy entrepreneurs and the causes of policy change across diverse political systems ranging from the developing world to the largest western democracies. The studies show how entrepreneurs work with outside donors, take advantage of windows of political opportunity, create those windows, and push the policy process in the direction they hope. They also show the limits to these strategies, and strategies that tend to fail. The book dramatically advances our understanding not only of change and stability in water policy, but of the policy process more generally. Frank R. Baumgartner, University of North Carolina, US This book is a theoretically and empirically grounded analysis of one of the world s most pressing problems: the management of water resources. The editors have assembled a remarkable collection of authors with a truly global outlook and an excellent grasp of contemporary water issues as well as modern theories of public policy and decision-making. The volume also demonstrates excellent applications of policy theory to current and pressing matters. It is a must-read for students and practitioners in water resources and will be influential to water policy and in environmental resource management and policy for years to come. Thomas A. Birkland, North Carolina State University, US This volume is a major achievement. It advances our knowledge of stability and change in water policy through case studies from around the world. Its focus on transitions instances of really major shifts in policy is particularly welcome at a time when challenges such as climate change force water policy makers to reconsider the very foundations of their regulatory frameworks and infrastructural policies. The volume goes beyond water policy, however. It makes a major contribution to the study of policy dynamics in general by offering an empirically grounded comparative analysis of policy entrepreneurs as change agents in policy networks. There has been much loose talk about policy entrepreneurs in the fields of public administration and public policy, but a dearth of empirical work underpinning the various claims made. This volume goes a long way towards filling that gap. Highly recommended for water experts and policy scientists alike. Paul t Hart, Australian National University, Australia and Utrecht University, the Netherlands This major volume focuses on the role of policy entrepreneurs in revolutionizing water management worldwide. Adopting an international comparative perspective, the authors explore the changes taking place in water policy across fifteen countries, at both the global level and within the European Union. Their analysis highlights the importance of groups and individuals in stimulating progress and reveals the crucial part played by policy entrepreneurs. Successful entrepreneurs use various strategies to initiate and implement change, including the framing and reframing of issues, the assembly of coalitions, venue shopping and the exploitation of windows of opportunity. In showcasing the role of entrepreneurs in achieving transitions and explaining their approach, this groundbreaking book presents an optimistic message for those who desire improvements in the way water is managed. This book will not only make a unique contribution to the current literature on transition management, but will also prove an invaluable tool for those keen to influence water policy management at the regional, national and international level. It will be of great interest to students and scholars of water resources and environmental management and governance, as well as practitioners in the fields of water and climate policy.
