Desktop Guideline on the Selection of Bulking and Settling Factors for Opencast Mines in Mpumalanga, South Africa

Sets out good practice for planning, implementing, monitoring and adaptively managing land rehabilitation at surface coal mines, with generic rehabilitation objectives, implementation actions and suggested relinquishment criteria for each component. It updates guidance first issued in 1981 and revised in 2007, reflecting later changes to South African rehabilitation legislation.

Mines already provide substantial training and their junior managers were found motivated and committed, yet development at this level remains problematic. Gaps sat in commercial exposure, financial and accounting skills, industrial relations, quality standards, administration and project management. The report sets out the attributes to screen for at appointment and a framework that makes candidates responsible for their own development.