Assessment procedures and end point criteria for arid mine waste rock dumps

Summary

The rehabilitation of waste dumps generated by open-cut mining in Western Australia must be carried out at mine operators’ effort and expense.

Their need to assess what constitutes successful and sustainable rehabilitation gave rise to this project, in which responses have been developed to planners’ questions including:

• What constitutes success in mine rehabilitation and how can we predict it?
• Is the regenerated ecosystem sustainable?
• What objectives will be achievable?

Keywords: mine rehabilitation, sustainability, end point criteria