Maximising post-mining land use: Queensland Government reforms

In 2016 in an atmosphere of increasing concern about potential risks of the resource industry, Queensland Treasury Corporation and the Queensland Government reviewed the State’s financial assurance framework and mining rehabilitation outcomes. The Queensland Government responded to those reviews with a suite of significant reforms, designed to improve rates of progressive rehabilitation and minimise the State’s risk in relation to the resource sector. In 2017, the government released the Mined Land Rehabilitation Policy, containing—for the first time—a clear statement of the expectations on mining companies in Queensland to progressively rehabilitate over the life of the mine and maximise post-mining land use. In 2018 legislation was passed, replacing the current financial assurance requirements with a Financial Provisioning Scheme, designed to minimise the financial burden on low-risk mines while providing full coverage for the State when required. The legislation also introduced requirements for companies with the biggest mines in the State to develop Progressive Rehabilitation and Closure (PRC) Plans. These PRC plans will communicate how resource companies will progressively rehabilitate mine sites and the criteria to which each area will meet in order to maximise post-mining land use. This paper will give an overview of the background and environment in which the reforms were designed, an overview of implementation so far and how the package of measures is supporting Queensland resource industry to increase the quality and quantity of progressive rehabilitation throughout the life of an operation to maximise beneficial post-mining land use.