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The initial Minerals Council South Africa’s Guideline was
compiled in 1981, with a subsequent update approximately
16 years later in 2007. Since this time, over 10 years have passed
during which land rehabilitation practices have become
a focus of managing sound socio-ecological businesses.
Simultaneously there have been notable changes to mining
rehabilitation-related legislation as well as mining houses’
focus on developing in-house guidelines/standards, etc.
As a key social platform in southern Africa where land
practitioners can access information and network between
specialists, the Land Rehabilitation Society of Southern
Africa (LaRSSA) was in the best position to update the
2007 Guideline. The Council members are all leading land
rehabilitation specialists within their disciplines – from mining,
to agriculture, to conservation. Accordingly, the Society is
considered representative of industry, consultants, regulators
and academia. Some of the Council members also sit in on the
Coaltech Surface Environment meetings.
The project was initiated in September 2017, aiming for
completion by September 2018. To date, the following have
been completed:
yy
Desktop review of relevant guidelines/standards -
Since development of the 2007 Guideline, significant work
has been undertaken by mining houses, other academic
institutes and consultancies in compiling their own
guidelines / standards, etc. for land rehabilitation. Allowance
has been made to assimilate these documents, critically
review their content, and identify key aspects that could be
used to inform the updated Guideline. Attention has been
given to rehabilitation challenges and practices related to
high extraction mining operations.
yy
Upfront work sessions to devise updated guideline
needs and objectives - Current industry needs have been
considered critical for incorporation to the updated
Guideline. Following an internal LaRSSA Council member
work session to devise the updated Guideline framework,
an external strategic work session was held during
September 2017 to agree on this framework. This included
key mining-related / industry land rehabilitation ‘gurus’
whose focus are on the practical application of rehabilitation
principles.
y
y
Field assessments (case studies) – During October to
December 2018, four site visits were undertaken by the
LaRSSA Council. The selected sites comprised rehabilitated
mine sites that could be used to assess long-term
rehabilitation-related stability and functionality already
achieved. These successes (and/or challenges) were
compared to the recorded rehabilitation methods applied,
towards verifying key rehabilitation principles and practices.
All of the sites were Coaltech member sites, with two areas
used for site assessment as part of the 2007 Guideline
compilation.
Some of the key learning to date are provided in Figures 1 – 3
UPDATE OF THE 2007 ‘GUIDELINES FOR THE
REHABILITATION OF MINED LAND’
R.HATTINGH
