Mine Closure Plans: ICMM Integrated Closure vs State Requirements in WA, QLD and NSW

Mine closure planning sits at the intersection of international good practice and Australian state regulation, and operators working across jurisdictions have to satisfy both.

The global benchmark is the ICMM Integrated Mine Closure Good Practice Guide, second edition, published in 2019. It frames closure as a progressive, integrated activity that starts at feasibility, not a terminal event that happens after mining ceases.

In Western Australia, the Mining Act 1978 requires Mine Closure Plans to be approved by the Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DEMIRS), and those plans must be reviewed at least every three years. In Queensland, the Mineral and Energy Resources (Financial Provisioning) Act 2018 introduced the Financial Provisioning Scheme which changed how rehabilitation obligations are funded. In New South Wales, the Mining Act 1992 and the Mining Amendment (Standard Conditions of Mining Leases. Rehabilitation) Regulation 2021 set the baseline for closure and rehabilitation conditions.

Progressive rehabilitation is now a regulatory expectation in all Australian mining jurisdictions. That means closure inspections are not waiting until the final year, they are a rolling, routine part of operational inspection programs, and the documentation trail across the life of mine matters for bond release at the end.