Posted in About the news, consulting, environmental, Reclamation, tagged Bunker Hill, EPA, hecla, Jacobs, mine closure, superfund on October 13, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Two news items today from the world of mining emphasize the cost of mining. The first is that Jacobs has received contracts from the oil sands mines of Alberta worth more than $1.5 billion in the preceding quarter. The second is that Hecla Mining has just settled with the EPA for $77 million to cleanup the Bunker Hill Superfund site in the Coeur d’Alene Basin in Idaho. (more…)
Posted in acid mine drainage, decomissioning, environmental, Human relations and mining, Mining history, Reclamation, tagged andy robertson, mine closure, Pebble Mine, Witwatersrand on September 22, 2011 | 4 Comments »
The mine closure conference is underway in one of those tourist towns in the Rockies of Alberta. I am not there; somehow the event snuck up on me and I just could not bring myself to go to another conference where I would snooze unceasingly through dull talks in hushed and dark rooms. It is a liberating feeling to know that you have absolutely no desire to go to yet another conference. (more…)
Posted in Global Warming, Gold, Reclamation, Tailings, Underground, Uranium, acid mine drainage, Africa, environmental, tagged AMD, East Geduld, Kwa thema, pollution, slimes dam, Tailings, Witwatersrand on April 28, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Growing up on the East Geduld Mine, a gold mine at the far east end of the South African Witwatersrand, we often went to play around the slimes dams and the pools of orange, green, and blue waters that dotted the landscape. Our parent forbade us to go there, for there were stories of kids sliding into pools, drowning, or worse, being entombed in collapsing caverns in the slimes dams. But that made our adventures all the more exciting. (more…)
Posted in blogs, consulting, decomissioning, Heap leach, Latin America, Mining history, Reclamation, Tailings, tagged Bellavista, Costa Rica, divorce, failure, geowaste, Heap leach, slimes dam, Tailings on April 19, 2011 | 2 Comments »
A casual conversation in the parking garage involved this question: “What are the five tailings failures that set the course of history?” (more…)
Posted in consulting, environmental, Gold, Heap leach, Investing & Finance, Latin America, People, Reclamation, Uncategorized, tagged Bellavista, Costa Rica, failure, heap leach pad, peter tagliamonte on April 18, 2011 | 4 Comments »
Greed, speed, and engineering carelessness all led to the massive failure of the Bellavista heap leach pad in Costa Rica. The failure of the pad led to the closure of the mine and bankruptcy of the company. The massive failure is now the subject a major law suite: all parties ever involved are suing and being sued. It is ugly and will only get uglier. If the mine wins the legal battle and gets money, some of the money may be spent cleaning up the mess on the ground. But it will be years before the guilty are determined, and their insurance companies pay up, and by then water and slope failure will have spread the mess even wider. (more…)
Posted in Australia and New Zealand, Mining history, Reclamation, Uranium, tagged mine closure, rum jungle, UMTRA, Uranium on April 7, 2011 | 1 Comment »
It is crass to take pleasure in the failure of arrogant people to achieve what they once bragged they would do. Yet I cannot suppress a faint, incorrect spark of a smile when I read of the failure of the closure works at the Rum Jungle Uranium Mine, near Darwin, Australia. (more…)
Posted in People, Reclamation, tagged Alaska, association, Juneau, miners on March 11, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Next week in Juneau, Alaska we have the Alaska Miners Association meeting. This runs from Wednesday to Friday. (more…)
Posted in consulting, environmental, Geotechnical, North America, Reclamation, safety, Tailings, Waste Rock, tagged Alaska, closure, EPA, failure, mine, pebble, Tailings on February 25, 2011 | 7 Comments »
Posted in blogs, decomissioning, health and safety, North America, Reclamation, tagged alaska mining association, edumine, Greens Creek, Juneau, Kensington mine, mine closure, spring meeting on February 5, 2011 | 1 Comment »
The Alaska Miners Association Southeast Spring Meeting is in Juneau from March 15 to 18, 2011. A preliminary agenda can be found at the link. Topics for sessions include: training, safety, and exploration. On the Saturday following the conference are field trips to Greens Creek or the Kensington Mine. I know Greens Creek well, so may be able to persuade myself to go to the Kensington Mine. (more…)
Posted in British Columbia, Investing & Finance, Reclamation, tagged Canada, guidance, mine closure, Nevada on January 24, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
At this link, is the Policy Framework in Canada For Mine Closure and Management of Long-Term Liabilities: A Guidance Document.
I cannot copy or cut-and-paste from the copy I got, so on a Sunday night you will not find me typing out the main points. Suffice it to say that if you are remotely interested in or likely to be affected any time soon by the issue of mine closure, you should go to the link, download the document, and read it. And then make plans to deal with it potential adoption and implementation.
Basically, they recommend that Canada institute a system to manage mine closure that is as good if not better than the one in force and practice in Nevada–and maybe as good as the one in British Columbia. And the mining industry flourishes there.
MINING.com | hardrockminer on The Limits of Consulting: Pit… |
 | FredW on The Limits of Consulting: Pit… |
 | neteshkumar on 2012 Mining Opportunities… |
| hardrockminer on The Limits of Consulting: Pit… |
| hardrockminer on Luquman Shaheen: Career, Compa… |
