Environmental Impact Assessment - Mining and the Environment: From Ore to Metal - page 107

audit gives an overall view of the mine company's ability to provide adequate environmen-
tal and social safeguards. The host country's government can request independent audits
as part of their appraisal of mine projects (Freeport 1996, 2000, 2005); i nancial institu-
tions investing in a mine often appoint their own independent environmental and social
auditor(s).

2.11 PLANNING FOR MINE CLOSURE

For the non-mining specialist, it may seem unnecessary to plan for mine closure before
mining activities have even started. Actual mine operations differs from the initial mine
planning, and obviously so does mine closure. Early planning for mine closure, however,
is good practice, and most national jurisdictions have recently added the requirement for a
preliminary mine closure plan as part of the feasibility study and mine approval. A legacy
of environmental and social issues at many mines world-wide underlines the importance
of careful planning of a mining operation, from mine construction to mine closure.
Mining, especially opencast mining, is very much a temporary use of land and its
resources. Landscape architects introduced the term 'landscape on loan' to describe poten-
tial impacts on land. Because of the potential long-term nature of mining impacts, the
restoration of disturbed land is as important as the management of impacts during mine
operation. Since the exploitation of minerals is only temporary, impact mitigation should
focus on restoration planning from the outset of mine development. Even where there is
no practical post-mining land use for surface mine pits, it is essential to ensure that post-
closure impacts are not propagated to adjacent or downstream lands.
The socio-economic dimensions of a mine operation provide the most compelling rea-
sons for early mine closure planning. Mining project operations provide a major stimulant
for local and regional development, including employment and business opportunities, and
tax incomes which can change the social patterns of nearby communities. Once the miner-
als are depleted, the mine as an engine for economic development is gone. Without careful
early planning by both the mining company and the local government, local communities
will be unprepared to cope with mine closure. Without mine closure planning, productive
human, social, and environmental capital created by the mining operation may prove to be
unsustainable, and local communities as well as the region may well end up worse off than
had the project never been developed. On the other hand, with foresight and commitment,
many positive outcomes can be achieved that will strengthen the capacity of local commu-
nities to cope with mine closure and to embrace replacement livelihoods.

A legacy of environmental and
social issues at many mines
world-wide underlines the
importance of careful planning
of a mining operation, from mine
construction to mine closure.

Without careful early planning
by both the mining company
and the local government, local
communities will be unprepared
to cope with mine closure.

2.12 WHAT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT IS NOT

Common misperceptions of the term environmental assessment exist. Environmental
assessment is…

Not a Permitting Effort . It is fair to say that today's senior mine management does under-
stand that environmental assessment is an important element of mine planning. This
understanding is often based on past experience where an initial lack of attention to envi-
ronmental and social issues troubled mine operations throughout the mine life, or even
contributed to unscheduled mine closure (see Case 1.3 as one example). This broad view,