The SAIMM is a professional institute with local and international links aimed at assisting members source information about technological developments in the mining, metallurgical and related sectors.
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MINE CLOSURE CONFERENCE 2025

Date 19 February 2025
- 20 February 2025
Location The Maslow Hotel, Sandton, Gauteng, South Africa
Resources Mine Closure 2025 Sponsorship Prospectus 28082024.pdf
Mine Closure Annoucement 12082024.pdf
Agreenco 23092024
PREMIUM SPONSOR | COCKTAIL SPONSOR | LANYARDS SPONSOR

ABOUT THE CONFERENCE

 During closure planning there are usually four parties involved, being the mining house, external stakeholders, consultants and the authorities who are responsible for closure plan and eventual relinquishment approval. There are subsequently numerous conflicting ideals between the parties during the evolution of mine planning to post-closure. This leads to unrealistic closure expectations and vague obligations that result in the lack of setting or accepting specific closure and relinquishment criteria. Without clear direction, achieving a closure certificate in South Africa remains uncertain. This leads industry to adopt very different positions around closure planning that ranges between best practice, compliance to legislation to minimal planning.
Successful relinquishment has been achieved internationally by creating a value chain for sustainable post-mining economies as early as possible. In South Africa relinquishment could possibly be achieved successfully by complying to the current legislative closure approach or alternatively by creating third party value by means of parallel economies. This could potentially be supplemented with a regional closure approach between mining houses. It is therefore imperative that the third party needs to be part of the value chain development and execution through meaningful community engagement to ensure the benefits of local knowledge and achieve social acceptance. Once the long-term value chain is in place it lays the foundation for closure- and relinquishment criteria and social integration. ESG compliance adds another layer to closure planning but can be very useful to add specific criteria and expedite closure actions. Regardless of the approach taken, engagement with regulators is required for overall alignment and changes to policies.