A review of mine closure and rehabilitation plans during the operations of large-scale mines in Zambia: a case study of Nchanga open pit mine.
Date
2022
Authors
Syafunko, Mutinta Esther
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The University of Zambia
Abstract
The world population continues to grow, with Africa projected to reach 2.4 billion people by the year 2050. This increase in population has resulted in a high demand for goods and services, which has subsequently triggered an increase in demand for mineral resources. Zambia, being a mineral rich country has seen an increase in exploration and exploitation of its mineral resources with some of the largest open pit mines in Africa being host to Zambia. Despite the positive economic impacts that come with mining, open pit mines have an adverse environmental impact, vis a viz, loss of biodiversity, land degradation, loss of ecosystems, etc. The country does not have any large-scale open pit mines that have closed which gives an
opportunity for the mines to operate and close sustainably. The aim of this study was to review the incorporation of mine closure plans and progressive rehabilitation activities into the life cycle of large scale open pit mines in Zambia. This was done by an assessment of the current mine closure plans and a review of the benefits of incorporating these closure plans and progressive rehabilitation activities into the life cycle of large-scale open pit mines. The study focused on the Nchanga open pit mine, which is, a large-scale open pit mine in Zambia. The laws and regulations of Zambia were also examined in order to identify gaps and provide recommendations for improvement. The recommendations were drawn from an
assessment of the current best practices and regulations and a review of international practices in Chile, South Africa and Western Australia. The methodology involved the use of survey questionnaires that were distributed to the local community, interviews that were conducted with key stakeholders, a site visit that was conducted at Nchanga Open Pit mine and the desktop review of the current laws and regulations on mine closure in Zambia. The results of the research revealed that the Environmental Protection Fund is the main framework used to deal with the issues of mine closure in the country. However, due to various factors including inability of local banks to provide bank bonds or guarantees to the mines and limited resources to carry out site inspections, the framework is not implemented effectively. There is therefore the need to review the effectiveness of this framework and revise it to be an effective tool for continuous rehabilitation and mine closure.
Description
Thesis of Master of Science in Sustainable Mineral Resource Development