Pursuant to section 103AT (2) of the Mining Act 1978 (Mining Act) this is the approved form for the submission of a Mine Closure Plan (MCP) for small mining operations. The form has been designed to meet the requirements of section 103AR of the Mining Act, and therefore all sections must be completed in order for this form to constitute a valid MCP.
This pro forma cannot be used as a mechanism to submit an MCP for projects that are not considered small mining operations.
The Department of Mines, Petroleum and Exploration (DMPE) considers a small mining operation to be defined as:
- scraping and detecting;
- dry blowing;
- wet and dry gravity separation activities; and
- the following activities for a total footprint for the mining operation of 10 hectares (ha) or less: Mining excavations (such as pits, costeans, quarries, shafts, winzes, harvesting, and dredging), leaching operations (such as Carbon-in-Pulp (CIP), Carbon-in-Leach (CIL), vat leach, and heap leach), tailings treatment operations, crushing and screening, and any other appropriate mining or extraction activities.
- Any construction activities incidental or conducive to the activities above including plant, tailings storage facilities, and overburden stockpiles.
DMPE generally considers that a small mining operation does not involve the mining of uranium, mineral sands or rare earth elements.
Where an operation does not meet the above criteria, approval to use the pro forma may be given by DMPE on a case-by-case basis. This approval must be received in writing prior to submitting the application and should be attached as evidence.
Print this page
