Mine Closure Planning
A new study has shown that bioleaching can strip more than 90% of sulphur and iron from coal waste, neutralising its acid-generating potential and creating a saleable by-product.
The pursuit of critical minerals is pushing miners deeper underground, where innovation—not just excavation—is becoming the key to unlocking value.
Australia’s mining sector could be overlooking a low-risk, high-reward tailings management method that’s been delivering stability and efficiency in other parts of the world for decades.
Seiche waves might be rare in mining, but new research shows they could pack enough force to overtop in-pit tailings storage facilities with serious consequences for operations, infrastructure, and safety.
A waste stream from iron ore processing is proving it can outperform conventional materials in building mine haul roads and deliver major environmental gains.
When a Queensland flood swallowed a dragline and left an underground portal 60 metres underwater, Wade Ludlow knew mine levee design had to change.
Approvals in mining have long been described as a maze of red tape and delays, but at AMEC’s Nature Positive and Environmental Regulation Forum in Perth, regulators signalled that change is finally starting to cut through.
When Alejo Sfriso, corporate consultant at SRK Consulting Argentina, stepped up to the podium at the Life of Mine | Mine Waste and Tailings 2025 conference in Brisbane, his message was as direct as it was disruptive: it’s time to leave deterministic factor-of-safety thinking behind.
When it comes to critical minerals in emerging nations, geology is often the easy part - what makes or breaks a project is navigating the politics, markets, and risks that sit behind the orebody.
What if the key to slashing tailings closure costs and winning community trust is to start the work decades before the mine shuts down?
For Justin Walls, Principal Consultant (Tailings Engineering) at SRK Consulting, the best time to plan for tailings storage facility (TSF) closure is now – not when the mine is about to shut down.
