Barriers to introducing non-mining land uses onto operational mines as perceived and experienced by experts in Australia

• 54 mine rehabilitation experts surveyed. • Explored barriers to parts of operational mines transitioning to a post-mining land use. • Clarity of completion criteria, residual risk and apportionment of liability of highest concern to experts. Every mining jurisdiction in Australia expects mined land to be progressively rehabilitated to achieve a safe, stable, non-polluting landform, capable of sustaining a post-mining land use. Resource communities, especially those extracting carbon-intensive commodities, face an imminent prospect of transitions away from those commodities. In the case of thermal coal, this transition will likely occur well before the resource itself is exhausted. This paper seeks to better understand the barriers to rehabilitated mine lands progressively transitioning to a post-mining land use on operational mine sites as perceived and experienced by experts in Australia. Given very little in the literature has canvassed the views of mine rehabilitation experts in this matter, an expert elicitation survey was conducted to better understand these perceived and experienced barriers. Specifically, the focus was to explore barriers external to the commercial decisions of the mining companies themselves. Survey participants showed strong alignment around potential barriers pertaining to uncertainty of closure acceptance criteria, residual liabilities and apportionment of liabilities impeding deployment of innovative non-mining land uses. While the research draws heavily on examples emanating from Australian experience, the insights gained have broad applicability and relevance for governments and industry across other jurisdictions facing progressive rehabilitation and mine transition challenges.