BY JAMES CARTER
Mining reforms introduced by the NSW Government will allow the public to access information about mine rehabilitation to promote transparency and public understanding of rehabilitation requirements.
Operators of existing and new mines across NSW will be required to show their plans for progressive rehabilitation and report annually on rehabilitation outcomes.
Deputy Premier and Minister responsible for Resources John Barilaro said several amendments have been made to the Mining Regulation 2016 to modernise the framework.
“These reforms will strengthen the rehabilitation framework, encouraging best practice rehabilitation and ultimately ensure that mining lease holders progressively rehabilitate mine sites over the course of their project, and not just at closure.” Mr Barilaro said.
The new changes will require mine operators to prepare a management plan to identify and achieve outcomes, carry out rehabilitation risk assessments, develop a program to demonstrate rehabilitation approaches and release annual reports on performance.
Dave Layzell, Member for the Upper Hunter says the reforms are all about making sure progressive rehabilitation occurs across the Hunter Region.
"It is all about tightening up some of the rules for rehabilitation to make sure all the mine operators are doing the right thing by their rehabilitation plans and we are requiring them to prepare a good management plan and take out risk assessments and demonstrate they are actually rehabilitating mines as they go.
"Some of the mines themselves are probably already doing this in some form or another, and it is important that we have an even playing field across mining operations to make sure that everyone is doing the right thing." Mr Layzell said.
Information about rehabilitation plans will be made publicly available by the NSW Resources Regulator to promote accountability in the form of detailed reports and case studies.
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| Mine sites in the Upper Hunter Image: Google Maps |
