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Planning for post-mine landscapes : Collaboration between mining companies, governments, and Indigenous communities

British Columbia Mine Reclamation Symposium; University of British Columbia. Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering

Regulations in many mining jurisdictions and international guidance on mine closure incorporate the concept of defining post-mining land uses as a component of closure planning and design. These include the Health, Safety and Reclamation Code for Mines in British Columbia, which requires that end land uses be defined as part of the mining process. Modern permit conditions in British Columbia for End Land Use Plans or “Returning Land Use Plans”, a term coined by Nlaka’pamux communities in 2015, include the requirement to develop post-mining land-use planning with Indigenous communities whose territories include the mine site, collaboratively defining a vision for reclamation. The goal of these plans is to ensure that the landscape, after mines are reclaimed, reflects the values, relationships to, and desired land use of community members, but is also realistic and achievable within engineering and ecological constraints. Indigenous communities drive the approach to collaboration that can vary by community and mine. This paper provides a summary of the regulatory context and history of End Land Use Plans in British Columbia and outlines lessons learned working with mine sites and communities to collaboratively develop these plans in British Columbia, Yukon, and Saskatchewan.

Conference Paper

eng

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0447211

Non UBC

Other

DSpace