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Mine Closure And Liability

A necessary step in the management of South African mines is closure. A Certificate of Closure needs to be issued by the Department of Mineral and Energy Affairs before mine assets can be sold. Industry should take the initiative by assuming that mine owners have liability for the impacts of mining.

BACKGROUND AND INTRODUCTION

• Mine closure incorporates a process which must start at the commencement of mining and continue throughout the life of a mine. It should be executed within the framework of sustainable development.” (Department of Minerals and Energy, 2001 - a).
• The principles set out in section 2 of the National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Act No.107 of 1998) does apply to all prospecting and mining operations, as the case may be, and any matter relating to such operation; and serve as guidelines for the interpretation, administration and implementation of the environmental requirements of this Act.
• Any prospecting or mining operation must be conducted in accordance with generally accepted principles of sustainable development by integrating social, economic and environmental factors into the planning and implementation of prospecting and mining projects in order to ensure that exploitation of mineral resources serves present and future generations.
• Government Notice 1520, Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (Act 28 of 2002): regulations stipulate that the following closure objectives must form part of the Environmental Management Programme (EMP):
  • Identify the key objectives for closure of the operation to guide the project design,
  • Development and management of environmental impacts;
  • Provide future land use objectives for the site; and
  • Provide proposed closure costs.
• Under GN1520, section 40, the quantum of the pecuniary provision must be based on the provisions of the EMP and the closure objectives. This report is thus in a direct response to the above mentioned and has allocated a proposed closure cost, both scheduled and unscheduled against high level closure objectives for the period ending 2010.
• The Samancor WCM 2010 closure cost assessment is based on the DME guideline for mine closure 2005. The methodology applied for this 2010 assessment included a detailed qualitative and quantitative assessment of existing infrastructure, resulting in a mine specific list of closure components on Mooi Nooi, Millsell, Waterkloof, Buffelsfontein and on Elandsdrift.
• Each closure components is classified under a relevant DME category (as per the guideline) and allocated a master rate. Costs are calculated for every component and results in a mine specific closure cost per area.
• The master rate used in this report represents an 8.8% annual increase on the 2005 DME figures. A multiplication factor of 1 is used on all components

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