Closure Action Plans

Tommi Kauppila, Geological Survey of Finland, PO Box 1237, 70211 Kuopio, Finland; tommi.kauppila(at)gtk.fi

Detailed Action Plans are central to all advanced Closure Management Plans. Such action plans are required latest when the decision to close the mine has been made but, in practice, these plans should be drawn up as early as feasible to facilitate continuous closure and gradual reduction of risks, unknowns and liabilities.

The purpose of the action plan is to lay out a detailed plan, usually in the form of discrete tasks performed in a specified order, of how the objectives of closure for various closure issues or domains of the mine can be achieved. Such plans are made separately for each of the closure objectives/domains/issues, for example ‘Tailings Management Facility B’, ‘Open pit’, ‘Post closure effluent treatment’, ‘Out migration of the work force’ etc.

For each of the closure issues the action plan should have the following elements (modified from ICMM 2008):

  • Description of the closure issue
  • Objectives of closure for the issue
  • Individual actions required to achieve the objectives (tasks)
  • Timing of the tasks (project phase, start, ready by)
  • Responsible person(s)
  • Resources (human etc.)
  • Cost estimate
  • Verification

Besides the sections describing the closure issues and the objectives of closure for each issue the action plan may be summarized in a tabular form where each table lists the sequence of tasks required to achieve the objectives of closure for one closure issue (Table 1). For continuous closure, it is important to include tasks that aim at reduction of unknowns regarding the issue at hand, such as field tests or targeted monitoring efforts to improve the closure designs and decisions or revise assumptions. After all, the purpose of the CMP is to “move the facility towards a sense of surety about the closure outcomes” (ICMM 2008).

Table 1. An example of an Action Plan table listing actions for Tailings Management Facility B in the early phase of the project

2: Tailings Management Facility B
Task no Action Timing Responsibility Resources Verification Cost
 2-01 Preliminary siting of TMF B Pre feasibility Feasibility study manager Site environmental officer + team Siting approved $
 2-02 Conceptualise post closure use and land forms Feasibility Feasibility study manager Site environmental officer + team Report $
 2-03 Conceptualise and list cover structure options Feasibility Feasibility study manager Site environmental officer + team + consultant Report approved $ 90.000
 2-04 Study the geological, hydrological and geotechnical data of the TMF B site Feasibility Site environmental officer Site environmental officer + team $
 2-05 Contribute to engineering design of TMF B Planning and construction Site environmental officer Environmental team Review final design docs $
 2-06 Compare final TMF B structures to planned and update CMP Construction Site environmental officer Environmental team CMP updated $
 2-07 Design long term field tests for tailings materials Start-up phase Site environmental officer Environmental team + consultant Test plan $ 15.000
 2-08 Start long term field tests Start-up phase, annually Site environmental officer Environmental team + consultant Annual reports $ 10.000 + $ 15.000/a (analyses)
 2-09 Design long term field tests for tailings covers May 15th 2018 Site environmental officer Environmental team + consultant Approved report $ 15.000
etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

As more detailed plans are made according to the schedule laid out in the CMP, these individual detailed plans with engineering designs, costing etc. can be annexed to the main CMP.

References

ICMM 2008. Planning for Integrated Mine Closure: Toolkit. International Council on Mining and Metals, London, UK. 84 p.