SEMINAR: CLR Seminar: Howard Smith

Abstract: The ultimate and desirable outcome for rehabilitating exhausted mines is to leave the affected land in a state that has future value for use by subsequent generations. For companies to meet this goal and ensure that stakeholder satisfaction is obtained, consultation with land owners prior to mine closure is essential. Although best practice now dictates that planning for closure should be undertaken at the commencement of the mining phase, this was often not done and represents a problem to older mines now facing closure. This paper seeks to describe practical means of ensuring effective consultation to achieve acceptable levels of stakeholder satisfaction, and that success requires inclusion of traditional ecological knowledge into the closure process. Results demonstrate that both aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people perceive there is a role for traditional ecological knowledge not only for development of closure criteria, but throughout the environmental impact assessment process. A means by which this information can be obtained in a culturally sensitive manner and used in conjunction with Western science to achieve a mutually acceptable long-term outcome for mine rehabilitation is presented. Outcomes are compared to those from systems in place in Canada and New Zealand, and barriers to success in Australia discussed.