The mining industry has a significant role to play in delivering the commodities society needs, and producing them in a way that minimises adverse impacts on the environment and local communities. At the same time, mineral resources are finite, making the operation, and ultimately closure, of mining inevitable.While progressive rehabilitation of mine sites has been done well by some companies, the same can't be said for the entire sector and mining companies need to showcase leading rehabilitation practices to shift public perceptions. This is more critical than ever as consumers, manufacturers, and investors in energy transition metals and minerals want to know every step of production has been respectful towards the environment and affected communities.Mine closure must examine the complexities of regulatory and environmental compliance, strategies for post-mining land use, socio-economic planning, rehabilitation of the site, and support to communities through the transition. Due to these factors, mine closures can become major programs that provide significant opportunities but carry huge responsibility. Considering what is at stake for the companies, communities, and environment, failure is not an option.There is an opportunity for organisations and the industry to break the mould of delivering closure from a 'project to project' asset-based approach to a programmatic approach. In evolving their approach, the mining industry can drive improved governance, performance, and continuous improvement while reducing risk and eventually helping to define and refine future direction. In adopting a programmatic approach, through a global Closure Programme Management Office (CPMO) the following opportunities can be realised:• Improved governance.• Opportunities to drive standardisation.• Enhanced scope management.• Improved value and risk management.• Proper change management.• Improved reporting and performance management.• Collaboration and engagement with the supply chain in a consistent and effective manner.• Creating an environment of lessons learned and continual improvement.The paper will focus on improving global perspectives and best practices in mine decommissioning, closure, and reclamation through implementing a global CPMO.Our methodology incorporates our experiences working on global mine closure programs for major clients, which has enabled us to amass significant experience in how to establish and maintain control over large and complex programs of work, reduce risk and deliver opportunity. Additionally, our methodology will incorporate our findings from a comprehensive literature review, as well as a collaborative research survey and interviews where we explored what it takes to deliver successful outcomes in mine closure.

Planning for closure and its associated costs needs to commence from the early developmental stages of the mine itself and continue through the final relinquishment of the site. Our experience with mine closure estimating over the past several years indicates that most mine closures overrun their initial cost estimates by between 20 and 100 percent. Challenges to accurately estimating mine closure costs include changes to the mine layout over time, extended time to closure execution, execution methodologies, rapidly changing legislation, and managing the multiple disciplines involved in creating a tailored remedial solution, often in remote locations. The concern for miners is that poor closure estimates underestimate capital investment decisions and may even lead to incomplete reporting of financial obligation (liability).Successfully financing and cost estimating closure, decommissioning, and reclamation programmes requires a strategic and collaborative approach that examines the complexities of the mine site itself, the expectations of the surrounding communities, socio-economic considerations, and regulatory requirements. Successful mine closure and related costs can be improved by using three strategies, avoiding, reducing, and correcting negative impacts (Paricheh & Osanloo 2017).The paper will focus on improving global perspectives and best practices in mine decommissioning, closure, and reclamation financing and cost estimating.Our methodology will incorporate our experiences working on global mine closure programmes for major clients, which has enabled us to amass a significant database of cost and schedule information. Additionally, our methodology will incorporate our findings from a collaborative survey, research, and interviews where we explored what it takes to deliver successful outcomes in mine closure estimating. Key insights include:• How mining companies can improve how they estimate closure costs throughout all phases of the mine lifecycle. • How to manage the interdependencies across mine closure programs at each stage to avoid delays to program execution, dissatisfied stakeholders, and the possibility of claims and disputes.• What drives cost escalation and risk across long-term closure programmes, and how to manage this given the current climate of supply chain disruption and commodity volatility.• How climate change is leading to tighter closure and financial assurance arrangements, and what impact this is having on regulatory closure planning requirements including fiscal provisions and liabilities.We will draw insights from our data and analysis and combine them with experience gained from working in mine closure for over a decade. This extends to mine types, the expectations of surrounding communities, socio-economic considerations, and regulatory requirements. Our paper will support all those looking to achieve greater accuracy in mine closure financing and cost estimation and those looking to inform the process for due diligence across all phases of the lifecycle, from setting up the ...

Presented on Wednesday 18 May: Session 12 The outcomes of operational shutdowns and maintenance events, ‘Shuts and Turns’, can significantly affect a company’s performance and reputation. These are typically highly complex operations that demand significant resources and must deliver results. Shuts and Turns are expensive activities, not only in terms of the direct cost of labour plant and materials but also the production deferral. Leading operators recognise that they also pose significant risk to future production which is why significant time and effort goes into robust management framework. Safety performance is paramount, with schedule adherence also key. Operators spend considerable time planning to ensure successful Shuts and Turns have: an established management framework; effective scope management; thorough front-end loading; robust controls and change management; an assessment of the risks of emerging work; efficient resource planning; and rigorous safety and QA/QC processes. This paper provides: an overview of the different types of Shuts and Turns used by Australian operators; the benefits of a robust shutdown governance approach; an overview of key success areas; importance of lessons learned; and a detailed case study based on our work with a major downstream facility. The paper will appeal to oil and gas operators, major contractors and service providers. To access the presentation click the link on the right. To read the full paper click here

The outcomes of operational shutdowns and maintenance events, ‘Shuts and Turns’, can significantly affect a company’s performance and reputation. These are typically highly complex operations that demand significant resources and must deliver results. Shuts and Turns are expensive activities, not only in terms of the direct cost of labour plant and materials but also the production deferral. Leading operators recognise that they also pose significant risk to future production which is why significant time and effort goes into robust management framework. Safety performance is paramount, with schedule adherence also key. Operators spend considerable time planning to ensure successful Shuts and Turns have: an established management framework; effective scope management; thorough front-end loading; robust controls and change management; an assessment of the risks of emerging work; efficient resource planning; and rigorous safety and QA/QC processes. This paper provides: an overview of the different types of Shuts and Turns used by Australian operators; the benefits of a robust shutdown governance approach; an overview of key success areas; importance of lessons learned; and a detailed case study based on our work with a major downstream facility. The paper will appeal to oil and gas operators, major contractors and service providers.