Report of land rehabilitation in Australia

Report of land rehabilitation in Australia

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CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

1.1 Problem Statement

There has been an increment of the land that is left unutilized due to mining activities in Australia. This has led to confusion on which mines to be rehabilitated. The factors to be considered to ensure that it will benefit the residents to the maximum has been the critical issue. This has challenged the government as it strives to make the land be into use after being abandoned due to the preceding mining activities in the area. In this report, the best approach will be addressed to ensure that rehabilitation will positively affect the country’s economy.

Some companies leave the mine abandoned after their mining activities. This has posed an increased cost of rehabilitating to the government. This report will also cater for the best policies to be adopted so that the mining companies will be responsible for rehabilitating the area they do their mining. How much the mining operation might cause environmental damage will be addressed in detail.

1.2 Background Information

Mining has been the backbone of the economy of Australia since time immemorial (Battellino 2010). Since 1841, Australia’s economy has been receiving a good portion of its income through mineral exports. Population growth has been realized in the country. This has been due to mining, which caused a considerable number of immigrants to the continent. The continent is rich in various valuable mines, including gold mines. Due to continuing improvements in the mining sector, Australia is known to be one of the biggest producers of essential minerals (Ye 2008). Australia is the leading exporter of coal, alumina, and iron ore. It is also the second-largest exporter of gold.

Due to the benefits that the government gets from mining activities, it is essential to critically analyze how the land used for mining is rehabilitated (Limpitlaw et al., 2005). Any land that is not in use is a liability to the government. This land should be rehabilitated to get back to its original state of production and sustainability. The benefits accrued from the mining activities can only profit the citizens fully if the land is fully rehabilitated. Rehabilitation activities are so beneficial to the entire community neighboring the mine.

Remediation of the contaminated land is done to ensure that its initial productivity is achieved (Khan et al., 2000). This is done by providing that the water does not concentrate on the hole left after the mining processes. Maintaining the drainage of a place ensures that there is no risk of water-borne diseases when it rains. It also provides that crops can be grown in these areas, so that food production is boosted. Sealing of mine entries is also done to allow rehabilitation. The sealing is done to ensure that unauthorized persons do not enter the mines. This is also done to ensure that water does not enter the mine. If a mine produces harmful gases, sealing is also important for it ensures that these gases are not emitted into the environment. This ensures that the adverse effects of these gases are avoided.

1.3 Literature Review

Since mining is one of Australia’s main economic activities, the existence of abandoned land is evident. Due to the high costs of rehabilitating these areas, the government chose to leave some of these parts unrehabilitated. It is vital to ensure these lands are rehabilitated to ensure that the lands’ productivity is restored (Hancock et al., 2000). This calls for applicable methods of choosing the best areas to be considered during rehabilitation. This is because of the many ores which have left desolate land in the mine areas. Mining policies are important to lead to proper ways of rehabilitating these pieces of land. There is another process of rehabilitation, which is the amelioration of the soils. This is done for revegetation. This ensures that vegetation can survive on the land after the mining processes. This is done by applying manure on the land to ensure that the nutrients are recovered in the soils. By this, the drainage is improved, and the saltiness of the soil is also controlled. This increases the ability of the ground to support a variety of crops. Having revegetation in an area has many advantages like the natural beauty of the land is restored.

The main stakeholders in the mining activities are the government and the communities. These stakeholders expect positive outcomes from the mining companies. They expect the companies to provide some adequate job opportunities (Solomon et al., 2008). The mining companies are expected to uphold the relevant ethics in the communities. The companies are required to come up with ways to ensure that environmental degradation is minimum. There should also be accountability and transparency in the financial operations. The mining companies should again come with ways of educating society on dealing with specific social issues. This mandate makes the companies very committed to maximizing the development and sustainability projects. The projects leave the country more developed and improve the economy of a country. This is vital to improving the living standards of the citizens. It also provides the government with income to complete its projects hence maximizing development in the country.

Many of the companies in the continent have cooperated to ensure that they achieve this objective. This helps to maintain the stakeholder relationship. Companies have been on the frontline in Australia to play their essential role in the continent’s economy. The miner and TAFE have collaborated to ensure that they create employment opportunities for the residents (Colic-Peisker & Tilbury 2006). This has been done by creating opportunities for technological advancements and innovations. Australian mines are taking part in ensuring that the amount of carbon (iv) dioxide released is minimized. The demands from the stakeholders in Australia seem to vary day-to-day; however, the companies have shown that they are committed to attaining these demands.

1.4 Objectives

To determine the best rehabilitation policies to be adopted to ensure that industries can rehabilitate the mines they cause.

To determine the tax rate per hectare.

To examine the progress of land rehabilitation in Australia.

To determine the roles of the discounted profit play.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER TWO: METHOD AND METHODOLOGY

2.1 Mine and rehabilitation model

Rehabilitation is an expensive practice, but the government cannot evade it due to the impacts that the abandoned land has on the economy and the people surrounding the mine.

The following parameters are considered in this model of rehabilitation:

𝑍𝑖 is pollution stock at site i, i = 1,2…. I

• 𝑉𝑖,0: initial volume of contamination from Z at site i in period 0
• 𝑉𝑖, 𝑡+1 = (1 + 𝛼𝑖) 𝑉𝑖, 𝑡 is the growth of volume (0 < 𝛼𝑖 < 1)
• 𝐶𝑖, 𝑡 = 𝑍𝑖/𝑉𝑖, 𝑡: average contamination at site i in period t
• 𝐷𝑖, 𝑡 = 𝐷𝑖 (𝑉𝑖, 𝑡, 𝐶𝑖, 𝑡): damage during t is a function of volume contaminated and average concentration.

𝐾𝑖: costs of cleaning up site i, K is the present value of total funds available for clean-up.

𝑋𝑖, 𝑡: binary choice variable

(𝑋𝑖, 𝑡 = 1 if site has been cleaned up, 0 otherwise)

Assume once site is cleaned it stays cleaned: if 𝑋𝑖, 𝑡 = 1 then 𝑋𝑖, 𝜏 = 1 for all 𝜏> t

Assume damage occurs while a site is being cleaned, but then all future damage goes to zero:

𝐷𝑖, 𝑡 = 1 − 𝑋𝑖, 𝑡 𝐷𝑖 𝑋𝑖, 𝑡, 𝐶𝑖, 𝑡 for t=1, 2…T

Funds which is not spent in t are available to earn interest (they increase by the factor (1 + 𝜌)

 

2.2 Mine policy model

Starting reserves of the resource known: X0.

• Rate of extraction: Qt
• Difference equation for resource stock dynamics: X_t+1= X_t – Q_t
• Residual waste from Q can accumulate as a stock pollutant (Z).
• Change in stock pollutants might depend on relative magnitudes of the waste flow and the rate at which the pollutant is assimilated into the environment.

Define a stock pollutant, Z_t (this can be termed to be CO₂ or copper concentrations in a river)

• let αQt be the flow of waste when Qt is consumed (1> α > 0)
• let ϒZ_t be the amount of pollution removed via degradation.
• Pollution stock dynamics: zt+1- z_t = – ϒZ_t + α Q_t

From the above equations, the current net benefits from mining must be balanced with discounted future costs from reduced resource stock and the reduction in amenity values and external costs.

This shows how the government should take the responsibility of rehabilitation to the mining companies. The government should ensure that the companies set funds aside to ensure that rehabilitation costs are reached when mining activities are done.

Bond is a number of funds that are kept aside and can be refunded when a mine closure happens. This amount may either be retained partially or fully. The bond is reviewed and adjusted from periodically. They are determined to be the last option when the rehabilitation process is not attainable. Some regions have a policy of progressively returning part of the security bond held in relation to a project as progressive rehabilitation works are completed at the site.

The challenge to this model is that the cost of rehabilitation is hard to approximate. It is a challenge to the state to approximate these costs. Where costs of closure exceed financial loss of bonds there is no financial incentive for a company to rehabilitate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER THREE: RESULTS FOR THE REHABILITATION MODEL

The mines in Australia are covering a massive piece of land. It has therefore forced the government to look for ways to see these lands rehabilitated. This government’s move has led to research on how rehabilitations can be done effectively in the continent. Owing to this, the characteristics of the mines have been one of the biggest concerns. The underlying land, which has become a liability to the government, has led to this need for rehabilitation.

There are over 50,000 abandoned mines in Australia. This poses a great challenge to the environment enactors who are unable to rehabilitate this land due to the enormous existing costs. Rehabilitation of the land has not been the first priority to the environs. This has posed health risks to the persons living near the mine. Due to the abandoned mines, water accumulates at these mines, which causes water-borne diseases. This increases the expenditure on treatments for these diseases. There is also the unpredictability of the cost of rehabilitation, which challenges both the government and the environment enactors as they attempt to rehabilitate these lands. From the research, it was also discovered that there had been the unplanned closure of mines. This has contributed much to the huge number of the abandoned lands on the continent. The data shows that only a few abandoned lands have been rehabilitated. This has been perpetuated by the high costs of the rehabilitation activity.

Table 1: Environmental bonds in Australia

Environmental bonds held by governments of Australia $millions
Queensland	4450
New south wales	2100
South Australia	131.4
Northern territory	1300
Victoria	160
Tasmania	55
Total	8196.4

 

 

 

 

The choice of the land to rehabilitate depends on several factors (Pretty et al., 2003). The main factor is the impact of the rehabilitation on those around the mine. This is judged by the previous productivity of the land before mining activities occurred.  If the land was very productive, often the agricultural productivity, it is deemed to be most appropriate to rehabilitate. This is because when this land is rehabilitated, it will have several positive impacts on the residents. This will encourage the government to rehabilitate this kind of land, for it will obtain some income after the rehabilitation process is over. The impact of the abandoned land on society is another leading factor of consideration. A land that, if it stays as left, causes a lot of hazards to the residents will call for immediate rehabilitation. This will lead the government to prioritize it since the residents will always complain about the threats caused. The government will choose these lands to ensure that its citizens do not continue suffering.

There are also practices that are put into practice to ensure that rehabilitation is avoided. The mine can be put under care and maintenance. This ensures that the land is harmful to the residents. The mine can also be kept operating at a loss. This helps to ensure that the land is not abandoned. It helps to help the residents from experiencing the adverse effects of abandoned land. The mine can also be sold to small companies. These companies can either rehabilitate the land or keep it as their assets. It will use it to expand its structures; hence the productivity of the land is assured in the near future. This mine can also be expanded so that mining activities continue. Having mining activities in place helps the land to maintain its productivity. It helps in maximizing the productivity of lands; thus, the abandoned land will be minimized.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS FOR MINE POLICY METHOD

sensitivity analysis is an essential technique of analyzing issues based on the impact it has on the environment. This analysis helps in dealing with topics that bring about the uncertainty of a decision. It is chosen to ensure that the choice of the government will bring maximum profits to the economy. This is so because some rehabilitation activities may not as beneficial as others could be. This calls for the need to make the most appropriate decision. The benefits of the project are the main focus of this approach. The role of discounted profit, on the other hand, ensures that the cost incurred is less than the gain to be realized at the end of a project. This is done by adding up all the costs to be expected in a project so that before the project is started, its initial requirement is known. Then the profits to be realized are also predicted, and a choice is made on the discount rate. The Discount rate helps to ensure the profitability of the project.

In this case, the discount rate is expected to be less than 5%. Most of the time, 4% is the discount rate that is deemed as appropriate. Any percentage above this is said to be unprofitable or unattainable. For this case of rehabilitation in Australia, the most appropriate rate will be 4%. It will ensure that the government does not keep the mining companies on the straining side. It will also show the productivity of the rehabilitated is profitable to the economy. The rehabilitating companies will be able to attain this in their ordinary operations. Bonds should be applied to the mining companies. This will maximize the responsibility of the mining companies. Most of the harmful products are exposed to the environment due to the lack of fines on these irresponsibility norms of the mining companies.

 

 

Recommendations

I recommend that the government continue with its rehabilitation activities. This will ensure that the citizen benefits from the land. It will also take out any risks associated with abandoned land.

The government should also adopt the policy that the companies be responsible for rehabilitating the land they affect during their mining activities. This will ensure that the government does not bear the burden for the mining companies. It will ensure that the government only gets the required revenues from the mining companies. This will be done by putting policies that require mining companies to set aside funds for rehabilitation at the end of the mining activities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION

Rehabilitation is costly to both government and the mining companies. Though mining activities have huge profits, their actions have adverse effects on the environment. They emit poisonous by-products to the atmosphere during their operations. Due to these impacts, rehabilitation should not be left in the hands of the government. The mining companies should be well organized to ensure that they will do every bit of rehabilitation. This will ensure that the mining companies will invent and innovate ways on how the emission of harmful products is minimized. They will also reduce the effects they cause on the land they are practicing their mining.

A healthy environment is a basic need for everyone. Every activity should not harm the ground. Due to this, the government and the mining activities should coordinate to avoid environmental degradation. Environment degradation has both short-term and long-term impacts on the residents. To avoid these impacts, proper ways of mining should be practiced. Environmental bonds should be administered to the mining companies to ensure that their impacts on the environment are not negative.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Battellino, R. (2010). Mining booms and the Australian economy. RBA Bulletin, March, 63-69.

Colic-Peisker, V., & Tilbury, F. (2006). Employment niches for recent refugees: Segmented labor market in twenty-first-century Australia. Journal of refugee studies, 19(2), 203-229.

Hancock, G. R., Evans, K. G., Willgoose, G. R., Moliere, D. R., Saynor, M. J., & Loch, R. J. (2000). Medium-term erosion simulation of an abandoned mine site using the SIBERIA landscape evolution model. Soil Research, 38(2), 249-264.

Khan, A. G., Kuek, C., Chaudhry, T. M., Khoo, C. S., & Hayes, W. J. (2000). Role of plants, mycorrhizae and phytochelators in heavy metal contaminated land remediation. Chemosphere, 41(1-2), 197-207.

Limpitlaw, D., Aken, M., Lodewijks, H., & Viljoen, J. (2005, July). Post-mining rehabilitation, land use and pollution at collieries in South Africa. In Colloquium: Sustainable Development in the Life of Coal Mining, South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Boksburg (Vol. 13).

Pretty, J. L., Harrison, S. S. C., Shepherd, D. J., Smith, C., Hildrew, A. G., & Hey, R. D. (2003). River rehabilitation and fish populations: assessing the benefit of instream structures. Journal of applied ecology, 40(2), 251-265.

Solomon, F., Katz, E., & Lovel, R. (2008). Social dimensions of mining: Research, policy and practice challenges for the minerals industry in Australia. Resources Policy, 33(3), 142-149.

Ye, Q. (2008). Commodity booms and their impacts on the Western Australian economy: the iron ore case. Resources Policy, 33(2), 83-101.