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Rehabilitation and Mine Closure

Following Yancoal’s announcement of permanent mine closure in February 2021, Austar resourced the Austar Closure Planning Team and commissioned a team of subject matter experts to develop detailed study scopes to inform mine closure.

Successful mine closure planning and execution is key to delivering a beneficial re-use of land beyond mining.  Austar is implementing a rigorous and risk-based approach in its planning for closure of the site. This is being undertaken in a staged manner, from initial identification of closure risks and opportunities, relevant stakeholders, knowledge gaps and legal or other obligations through to engagement of subject matter experts to undertake detailed assessments to close knowledge gaps and develop plans to execute closure activities.

Rehabilitation and closure commitments and obligations are established and enforced under a range of regulatory mechanisms. Planning and execution of works to address these requirements takes several years, with management and monitoring of the site to continue for many years after closure to verify successful rehabilitation to support lease relinquishment.

Austar is currently completing a Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) for mine closure, which includes technical studies and site investigations to address closure knowledge gaps and develop detailed decommissioning and rehabilitation execution plans that will deliver optimal rehabilitation outcomes at the site.  An overview of the Austar mine closure planning and execution timeline is found in the link below.