Open Cut » Environment
In 2020, the Queensland Resources Council (QRC), in partnership with the International Council on Mining and Metals, commissioned a strategic baseline assessment of post-mining land use (PMLU) in Queensland (“QRC Baseline Regional Assessment”). The aim of the assessment was to identify current commitments and assess whether other land use options would be feasible, would meet long term community priorities, and would deliver positive post mining outcomes.
One finding was that in the Bowen Basin and Surat Basin, renewable energy produced by solar and wind had vast potential and could potentially be proposed as post mining land use, however, the pathway to implementation was not clear. Whilst there was high level guidance available, recommendations could not be translated into actions, particularly because the approval pathway was not understood. For instance, there was no clear understanding of how local government, who in most cases is the planning authority responsible for assessing a solar farm development, would consider such development on a mine site. There is an opportunity to consider solar or wind energy production as a PMLU, but it requires a thorough understanding of the barriers that must be addressed, particularly regulatory ones.
The Commonwealth Government's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has developed a best practice guide for mine closure, as well as the Government of Western Australia. Both the DFAT and the Western Australian Government documents approach the issue of mine closure and mine repurposing from a regulatory perspective: companies relinquishing mine sites must meet regulatory requirements and community objectives. A report produced by CRC TiME reviewed the regulatory framework in Queensland and outlined the requirement to develop and implement a regulatory framework that is more adapted to the creation of new enterprises post closure. For the case of renewable energy, re-purposing could in theory start before closure as recommended by the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) Integrated Mine Closure: Good Practice Guide, if the regulatory framework enabled it. This is not currently the case, with mining lease and environmental authority conditions being highly prescriptive about the type of activities that can take place on a mine site while the mine is operational.
In Western Australia, the government introduced a new form of tenure in 2023, called a “diversification lease”. A diversification lease may be granted to enable proponents to conduct single or multiple land uses on a large area of Crown land, where the proposed lease purpose(s) can coexist with other land uses. The permitted uses of the land as set out in the diversification lease, as agreed by the parties, does not confer exclusive possession. Thus native title rights and interests are not extinguished. Guidance material for diversification lease proposals states that a proposal for a diversification lease will be considered by the Minister for Lands, and may result in the grant of a diversification lease where the proponent meets the criteria, as described in the final report.
A tenure instrument of that nature may support the installation of renewable energy facilities on mine leases, provided the renewable energy facility was occupying a large parcel of land, noting that the criteria do not impose specific quantifiers for what is considered a “large” area of land. Beyond regulatory barriers, this outlines that there is a requirement to assess what is feasible at the scale of a mine. This needs to be explored with case studies, analysing data provided by mines to answer these questions.
In Queensland, the Queensland Resources Industry Development Plan (QRDIP) states that “the government will continue to engage with industry and the community to identify opportunities for collaboration and innovation on post mining land uses. Pilot projects will be identified to explore innovative approaches that aim to deliver on-ground 'beyond compliance' rehabilitation that can improve biodiversity, carbon, and water quality outcomes”.
This project seeks to deliver such a pilot project, focusing on improving carbon emissions outcomes.