Transform. Transition. Transfer. Workshop

Course Overview, Objective and Themes

To transform their mines, to position for successful transition to another land use, and ultimately to transfer these sites into the care of the next land user, proponents need to go beyond environmental regulations and policy to adopt a holistic approach to mine closure.  This is a critical conversation as creating value and a positive legacy through mine closure requires alignment of a wide range of social, cultural, political, institutional and economic factors and drivers. This workshop will explore how understanding stakeholder values and expectations, underpinned by robust mine closure planning and environmental management, is key to facilitating successful transfer to the next land use and land holder(s).

Mines are important regional assets while operating, but mining is only a temporary land use. Session 1 of this workshop commences with discussion on the long-term impact of mine closures, and then explores the key drivers and stressors affecting closure and post-closure transitions. To complete Session 1, an interactive exercise focuses on defining success measures for transformation, transition and transfer of a mine to the next land use.

One of the critical challenges facing the end of a mine life is how to achieve appropriate, relevant and agreed outcomes for mine closure that support transition to the next land use(s) and divestment of residual liability. To understand these challenges, Session 2 uses a Landscape Resiliency Model and group discussions to explore what is meant by a “resilient landscape”, understand the social and ecological processes occurring at closed mines and the local and regional connections between these, and examine ways to develop practical social and ecological outcomes.

In essence, mine closure and transition to the next land use comprises an iterative change management process which represents a “changing of the guard” as mining companies prepare to hand over responsibility to the next custodian.  This is not a one-off event, but rather is an ongoing journey that involves many players, including all levels of government, First Nations people, local businesses and the wider community.  Recognising the need to manage change over time in a coordinated way, Session 3 of this workshop explores the theory of transition and introduces the Three Horizons Framework. This framework can be used with stakeholders to collectively imagine multiple possible future land uses and to navigate the “messy middle” of social transition, where values, perspectives, world views and visions of the future can collide.

It is well understood that closing a mine and transitioning to the next land use is more likely to be successful when stakeholder engagement is comprehensive and inclusive. If a company feels that stakeholder engagement has been done well and key community issues have been addressed, it would likely expect that there would be consensus on the proposed closure plan, but this is not always the case. This can occur for various reasons, but is almost inevitable if there is a lack of understanding of, or alignment with, social values. Further, even when comprehensive stakeholder engagement has occurred, communities can still find themselves inadequately prepared for closure and/or lacking the capacity to offset mining impacts. Through case studies and interactive discussions, Session 4 focuses on the factors that shape social values and ways to assess and enhance community readiness for mine closure and transition.

Creating social value and achieving a “just” transition to whatever will come next after mining can be a “Complex Mess” – there are multiple stakeholders with differing and conflicting views, time horizons are long so there are a lot of “unknowns” making it harder to predict and plan towards defined outcomes, and the context is constantly changing. Session 5 explores the processes and practices that enable groups to work together effectively on complex challenges, introducing a five-stage model for solving complex problems collaboratively. This process supports groups to work together to develop a shared understanding of the complexity of the issue and then determine wise actions that move them forward. The session explores how to work effectively on the complex challenge of transition with people who have different and perhaps opposite views, and how to stay at the table over the long haul and when things get tough.

To close this workshop, we revisit the success measures defined at the start of the workshop and ask “Based on today’s sessions, has your view on what defines successful mine closure, transition and custodial transfer changed?”