The Lighthouse Project #1 “Navigating the Regulatory Framework Impacting the Economic Transformation of Mine Affected Land” is now underway.
UQ Industry Professor Dr Brett Hayward – who brings significant senior Queensland Government resources policy experience – is leading the project.
CRC TiME is Lead Research Partner working with Brett’s team and integrating findings from their Foundation Research portfolio.
Sedgman, the Resources Centre of Excellence, Greater Whitsunday Alliance and Regeneration Enterprises are collaborators and industry funding partners. Further support is being sought.
A fast-paced project
The 15-week qualitative industry orientated research is looking at 10 – 15 recent case studies, where proponents pursued remining, repurposing and remediation projects under the current Queensland regulatory regime.
We’ll be collecting and examining experiences with aim to design a regulatory system guide to incentivise innovative post-mining land use outcomes.
Findings will then be applied to a group of potential new projects, including critical minerals extraction, mine waste management, repurposing and environmental remediation to identify a matrix of pathways that could accelerate development.
Four core elements
The project aims to:
- Identify and map available regulatory pathways, challenges and enablers.
- Specifically identify the challenges for establishing pilot/trial sites for research, testing and commercial development of remining, repurposing and remediation options on an abandoned or mine site approaching closure.
- Provide recommendations on solutions to the identified regulatory challenges in order to establish pilot sites in Queensland where stakeholders can find new economic purposes, creating jobs.
- Provide additional feedback to government that supports shaping of a future regulatory landscape and enabling environment.
Key milestones include a Stakeholder Workshop late August, an Interim Report late September and the Final Report with guidelines, late November.
All material arising from the project will be available on the enviroMETS and CRC TiME websites as well as via the Advisory Group and supporting contributors.
HUGE Goodwill
enviroMETS is very grateful for the extensive industry, research and government goodwill received for undertaking the Lighthouse Projects. These projects are complementary, supporting the work being done by the QLD Government internally.
CRC TiME is delighted to be partnering with enviroMETS on this project, working together to bring innovation to move mine closure from being an end point to a transformation that delivers economic, environmental, social and cultural sustainable benefit.
An important step, this project will inform regulatory pathway guidelines and develop support material to inform further considerations to unlock the potential of repurposing mining assets.